Latest news with #UN-funded
AsiaOne
12 hours ago
- Health
- AsiaOne
50 killed in Gaza, many trying to reach food, as UN denounces Israeli-backed aid system, World News
CAIRO/GAZA — Israeli fire killed at least 50 people on Monday (June 16), nearly half of them near an aid distribution site run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the territory's Health Ministry said, as UN officials denounced Israeli-backed aid delivery methods. Medics said at least 23 of those people were killed and 200 others wounded near an aid distribution site in Rafah, the latest in daily mass shootings that have killed hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food since Israel imposed a new distribution system after partly lifting a near three-month total blockade. Israel has put responsibility for distributing much of the aid it allows into Gaza into the hands of a new US-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates three sites in areas guarded by Israeli troops. The United Nations has rejected the plan, saying GHF distribution is inadequate, dangerous and violates humanitarian impartiality principles. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military about Monday's reports of shootings. In previous incidents, it has occasionally acknowledged troops opening fire near aid sites, while blaming militants for provoking the violence. The GHF said in a statement late on Monday that it has distributed more than 3 million meals at its four distribution sites without incident. Relatives arrived at Nasser Hospital to mourn the dead. Women and children wept beside bodies wrapped in white shrouds. "We went there thinking we would get aid to feed our children, but it turned out to be a trap, a killing. I advise everyone: don't go there," said Ahmed Fayad, one of those who tried to reach aid on Monday. 'Lethal distribution system' Later on Monday, local health authorities said Israeli gunfire killed at least five people and wounded dozens of others as crowds of Palestinians gathered along the coastal road awaiting UN-funded aid trucks to enter the northern Gaza area. Witnesses said dozens of desperate people looted four truckloads of food packages. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Palestinian refugees agency UNRWA, said in a post on X: "Scores of people have been killed & injured in the past days, including of starving people trying to get some food from a lethal distribution system." Before the new system was set up, aid had been distributed to Gaza's 2.3 million residents mainly by UN agencies such as UNRWA, which employ thousands of staff inside Gaza and operate hundreds of sites across the enclave. Israel says it has had to crack down on distribution because Hamas fighters were diverting food aid. The militants deny this and say Israel is using hunger as a weapon. Lazzarini said Israel had not lifted restrictions on UN agencies including UNRWA bringing in aid, despite an abundance of assistance ready to be moved into the enclave. On Sunday, COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said that this week it had facilitated the entry of 292 trucks with humanitarian aid from the United Nations and the international community, including food and flour, into Gaza. It said the Israeli military would continue to permit the entry of humanitarian aid while ensuring it did not reach Hamas. Before Monday's incident, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 300 people had been killed, and more than 2,600 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations. On Sunday, at least five people were killed as thousands of Palestinians approached two GHF distribution sites in the central and southern parts of the enclave. The GHF said in a statement that it resumed food deliveries on Sunday, distributing more than 2 million meals from its three distribution sites without incident. The war in Gaza erupted 20 months ago after Hamas-led militants raided Israel and took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, on Oct 7, 2023, Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign since then has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the densely populated strip. Most of the population is displaced, and widespread malnutrition is a significant concern. [[nid:719046]]
Otago Daily Times
16 hours ago
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Dozens more killed trying to reach food in Gaza
Israeli fire killed at least 50 people on Monday, nearly half of them near an aid distribution site run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the territory's Health Ministry said, as UN officials denounced Israeli-backed aid delivery methods. Medics said at least 23 of those people were killed and 200 others wounded near an aid distribution site in Rafah, the latest in daily mass shootings that have killed hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food since Israel imposed a new distribution system after partly lifting a near three-month total blockade. Israel has put responsibility for distributing much of the aid it allows into Gaza into the hands of a new US-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates three sites in areas guarded by Israeli troops. The United Nations has rejected the plan, saying GHF distribution is inadequate, dangerous and violates humanitarian impartiality principles. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military about Monday's reports of shootings. In previous incidents, it has occasionally acknowledged troops opening fire near aid sites, while blaming militants for provoking the violence. The GHF said in a statement late on Monday that it has distributed more than 3 million meals at its four distribution sites without incident. Relatives arrived at Nasser Hospital to mourn the dead. Women and children wept beside bodies wrapped in white shrouds. 'We went there thinking we would get aid to feed our children, but it turned out to be a trap, a killing. I advise everyone: don't go there," said Ahmed Fayad, one of those who tried to reach aid on Monday. 'LETHAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM' Later on Monday, local health authorities said Israeli gunfire killed at least five people and wounded dozens of others as crowds of Palestinians gathered along the coastal road awaiting UN-funded aid trucks to enter the northern Gaza area. Witnesses said dozens of desperate people looted four truckloads of food packages. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Palestinian refugees agency UNRWA, said in a post on X: "Scores of people have been killed & injured in the past days, including of starving people trying to get some food from a lethal distribution system." Before the new system was set up, aid had been distributed to Gaza's 2.3 million residents mainly by UN agencies such as UNRWA, which employ thousands of staff inside Gaza and operate hundreds of sites across the enclave. Israel says it has had to crack down on distribution because Hamas fighters were diverting food aid. The militants deny this and say Israel is using hunger as a weapon. Lazzarini said Israel had not lifted restrictions on UN agencies including UNRWA bringing in aid, despite an abundance of assistance ready to be moved into the enclave. On Sunday, COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said that this week it had facilitated the entry of 292 trucks with humanitarian aid from the United Nations and the international community, including food and flour, into Gaza. It said the Israeli military would continue to permit the entry of humanitarian aid while ensuring it did not reach Hamas. Before Monday's incident, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 300 people had been killed, and more than 2,600 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations. On Sunday, at least five people were killed as thousands of Palestinians approached two GHF distribution sites in the central and southern parts of the enclave. The GHF said in a statement that it resumed food deliveries on Sunday, distributing more than 2 million meals from its three distribution sites without incident. The war in Gaza erupted 20 months ago after Hamas-led militants raided Israel and took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, on October 7, 2023, Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign since then has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the densely populated strip. Most of the population is displaced, and widespread malnutrition is a significant concern.
New Straits Times
09-06-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Homes smashed, help slashed: no respite for returning Syrians
AROUND a dozen Syrian women sat in a circle at a UN-funded centre in Damascus, happy to share stories about their daily struggles, but their bonding was overshadowed by fears that such meet-ups could soon end due to international aid cuts. The community centre, funded by the United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR), offers vital services that families cannot get elsewhere in a country scarred by war, with an economy broken by decades of mismanagement and Western sanctions. "We have no stability. We are scared and we need support," said Fatima al-Abbiad, a mother of four. "There are a lot of problems at home, a lot of tension, a lot of violence because of the lack of income." But the centre's future now hangs in the balance as the UNHCR has had to cut down its activities in Syria because of the international aid squeeze caused by US President Donald Trump's decision to halt foreign aid. The cuts will close nearly half of the UNHCR centres in Syria and the widespread services they provide - from educational support and medical equipment to mental health and counselling sessions - just as the population needs them the most. There are hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees returning home after the fall of Bashar al-Assad last year. UNHCR's representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, said the situation was a "disaster" and that the agency would struggle to help returning refugees. "I think that we have been forced - here I use very deliberately the word forced - to adopt plans which are more modest than we would have liked," he told Context/Thomson Reuters Foundation in Damascus. "It has taken us years to build that extraordinary network of support, and almost half of them are going to be closed exactly at the moment of opportunity for refugee and IDPs (internally displaced people) return." A UNHCR spokesperson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the agency would shut down around 42 per cent of its 122 community centres in Syria in June, which will deprive some 500,000 people of assistance and reduce aid for another 600,000 that benefit from the remaining centres. The UNHCR will also cut 30 per cent of its staff in Syria, said the spokesperson, while the livelihood programme that supports small businesses will shrink by 20 per cent unless it finds new funding. Around 100 people visit the centre in Damascus each day, said Mirna Mimas, a supervisor with GOPA-DERD, the church charity that runs the centre with UNHCR. Already the centre's educational programmes, which benefited 900 children last year, are at risk, said Mimas. Mimas said if the centre closed, the loss to the community would be enormous: "If we must tell people we are leaving, I will weep before they do," she said Aid funding for Syria had already been declining before Trump's seismic cuts to the US Agency for International Development this year and cuts by other countries to international aid budgets. But the new blows come at a particularly bad time. Since former president Assad was ousted by Islamist rebels last December, around 507,000 Syrians have returned from neighbouring countries and around 1.2 million people displaced inside the country went back home, according to UN estimates. Llosa said, given the aid cuts, UNHCR would have only limited scope to support the return of some of the six million Syrians who fled the country since 2011. "We will need to help only those that absolutely want to go home and simply do not have any means to do so," Llosa said. Ayoub Merhi Hariri had been counting on support from the livelihood programme to pay off the money he borrowed to set up a business after he moved back to Syria at the end of 2024. After 12 years in Lebanon, he returned to Daraa in southwestern Syria to find his house destroyed - no doors, no windows, no running water, no electricity. He moved in with relatives and registered for livelihood support at a UN-backed centre in Daraa to help him start a spice manufacturing business to support his family and ill mother. While his business was doing well, he said he would struggle to repay his creditors the 20 million Syrian pounds (US$1,540) he owed them now that his livelihood support had been cut.
Observer
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Observer
Homes smashed, help slashed: no respite for returning Syrians
DAMASCUS: Around a dozen Syrian women sat in a circle at a UN-funded centre in Damascus, happy to share stories about their daily struggles, but their bonding was overshadowed by fears that such meet-ups could soon end due to international aid cuts. The community centre, funded by the United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR), offers vital services that families cannot get elsewhere in a country scarred by war, with an economy broken by decades of mismanagement and Western sanctions. "We have no stability. We are scared and we need support," said Fatima al Abbiad, a mother of four. "There are a lot of problems at home, a lot of tension, a lot of violence because of the lack of income." But the centre's future now hangs in the balance as the UNHCR has had to cut down its activities in Syria because of the international aid squeeze caused by US President Donald Trump's decision to halt foreign aid. The cuts will close nearly half of the UNHCR centres in Syria and the widespread services they provide — from educational support and medical equipment to mental health and counselling sessions — just as the population needs them the most. There are hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees returning home after the fall of Bashar al Assad last year. UNHCR's representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, said the situation was a "disaster" and that the agency would struggle to help returning refugees. "I think that we have been forced — here I use very deliberately the word forced — to adopt plans which are more modest than we would have liked," he said. "It has taken us years to build that extraordinary network of support and almost half of them are going to be closed exactly at the moment of opportunity for refugee and IDPs (internally displaced people) return." A UNHCR spokesperson said that the agency would shut down around 42 per cent of its 122 community centres in Syria in June, which will deprive some 500,000 people of assistance and reduce aid for another 600,000 that benefit from the remaining centres. The UNHCR will also cut 30 per cent of its staff in Syria, said the spokesperson, while the livelihood programme that supports small businesses will shrink by 20 per cent unless it finds new funding. Around 100 people visit the centre in Damascus each day, said Mirna Mimas, a supervisor with GOPA-DERD, the church charity that runs the centre with UNHCR. Already the centre's educational programmes, which benefitted 900 children last year, are at risk, said Mimas. Nour Huda Madani, 41, said she had been "lucky" to receive support for her autistic child at the centre. "They taught me how to deal with him," said the mother of five. Another visitor, Odette Badawi, said the centre was important for her well-being after she returned to Syria five years ago, having fled to Lebanon when war broke out in Syria in 2011. "(The centre) made me feel like I am part of society," said the 68-year-old. Mimas said if the centre closed, the loss to the community would be enormous: "If we must tell people we are leaving, I will weep before they do," she said Aid funding for Syria had already been declining before Trump's seismic cuts to the US Agency for International Development this year and cuts by other countries to international aid budgets. But the new blows come at a particularly bad time. Since former president Assad was ousted by Islamist rebels last December, around 507,000 Syrians have returned from neighbouring countries and around 1.2 million people displaced inside the country went back home, according to UN estimates. Llosa said, given the aid cuts, UNHCR would have only limited scope to support the return of some of the 6 million Syrians who fled the country since 2011. "We will need to help only those that absolutely want to go home and simply do not have any means to do so," Llosa said. "That means that we will need to be very selective as opposed to what we wanted, which was to be expansive." Ayoub Merhi Hariri had been counting on support from the livelihood programme to pay off the money he borrowed to set up a business after he moved back to Syria at the end of 2024. After 12 years in Lebanon, he returned to Daraa in southwestern Syria to find his house destroyed — no doors, no windows, no running water, no electricity. He moved in with relatives and registered for livelihood support at a UN-backed centre in Daraa to help him start a spice manufacturing business to support his family and ill mother. — Reuters HIGHLIGHTS The UNHCR has had to cut down its activities in Syria because of the international aid squeeze caused by US President Donald Trump's decision to halt foreign aid
