Latest news with #UnitedNations-run
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Health
- Boston Globe
Parents in Gaza are running out of ways to feed their children: ‘All we want is a loaf of bread'
But now she and her husband had two babies to keep alive at a time when Israel had blocked almost all aid from entering Gaza for nearly three months -- 80 days of total siege beginning in March. Israel began to ease the blockade in May, but only a thin trickle of supplies has arrived. Advertisement The traditional United Nations-run system for delivering aid has faltered as looters and fighting have cut off safe routes for aid trucks, and a new, Israeli-backed aid distribution system has descended into controversy, chaos and violence. Although the group behind it says it has delivered nearly 9 million meals so far, the United Nations says the assistance falls far short of what is needed for a population of 2 million people. Security at the new distribution sites is being provided by private American contractors, but the Israeli military is stationing forces nearby, outside the perimeter. Advertisement Born 5 pounds, 1 ounce, Shadia was weaker and smaller than her brother and had gained just 7 ounces a month later, her parents said. She struggled to suck from the bottle, usually drinking only half of the single bottle of formula that aid groups can offer at a time, they said. Al-Arqan has taken to drinking whatever her daughter does not finish, hoping the nutrients will help her produce milk, she said. 'Her birth brought me more anxiety than joy,' al-Arqan said. 'History is repeating itself, but this time with my little girl.' When al-Arqan managed to get some child nutritional supplements from an aid group in mid-May by waiting in line for six hours, aid workers evaluated Shadia by measuring her arm and concluded that the baby had moderate acute malnutrition, she said. But after nearly 20 months of war, Shadia's parents have no income or savings left to spend on milk or formula at the market. They survive on one meal a day: either a little lentil soup or rice and beans they get from charity kitchens in northern Gaza, where they have been living in a tent in the street for about six weeks. Barda, 26, who worked as a baker at a pastry chain before the war and has not been able to find steady work since, cannot find flour in northern Gaza for less than about $23 a kilogram, he said. That puts bread, the base on which practically every meal in Gaza used to be built, out of reach. Advertisement 'When we had Jihad, we still had some savings,' al-Arqan said. 'Now we have nothing -- no savings, no vegetables in the markets and no affordable flour.' Jihad's name, after an uncle, means 'struggle' or 'striving.' Jihad is no longer a baby. Now he asks constantly for food. A few days ago, as he was about to go down for a nap, al-Arqan said she heard him drowsily murmuring: 'Mama -- dough and bread.' 'Every day, we lose more ways to survive,' she said. 'My son is only asking for the bare minimum -- a loaf of bread. We're not asking for proper housing or clothes or even meat. All we want is a loaf of bread to stop the children's crying. Is that too much to ask?' Shadia is the apple of her grandfather's eye; he had always wanted a girl in the family. Sometimes he takes her to sleep with him and his wife on their mattress in their tent, he said, whispering words of hope and affection in his granddaughter's ears. Barda does not see cause for hope. Although he and his wife want more children, as is traditional in Gaza, they know they cannot feed more, he said. 'Our mood is broken,' he said. 'We go through the same suffering all over again every day.' To the south, in the city of Khan Younis, Hanaa al-Najjar has three children to feed, and little but lentils and dried pasta to feed them with. Advertisement The Times interviewed al-Najjar last year for the same article that described Barda and al-Arqan's struggle to feed their baby. Al-Najjar, now 31, had been left to take care of her children on her own after Israeli soldiers detained her husband as the family was evacuating a shelter on the Israeli military's orders, she said. After she ran out of formula, she was forced to feed her youngest, Muhanned, bread dipped in canned beans and lentil soup. His appetite suffered, and at less than 2 years old, he weighed half of what he was supposed to. He died in March 2024. Her elder son, Mohammed, now 8, had been hospitalized a few weeks before for fever and dehydration. Although he recovered, he has never been able to put on weight, al-Najjar said. He weighs a little less than 42 pounds -- underweight by World Health Organization standards. 'He never gains any extra weight like other kids,' she said. Now they live in a tent next to a graveyard in western Khan Younis. Al-Najjar's husband remains missing in detention. Without wheat flour, she grinds up dried lentils and pasta to make something resembling bread. Mohammed struggles to digest it, she said, and is always constipated. She has not found any medication to treat his bowel issues. For more than three months now, he has also had a bacterial infection on his scalp that doctors have been unable to treat, she said. It recently spread to his 10-year-old and 5-year-old sisters. Mohammed is a cheerful child. But the evidence of his rocky health is right there on the back of his head, even if he wears an orange hoodie to hide it. There, his dark hair has fallen out in patches, leaving nothing but an expanse of seething red skin. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Asharq Al-Awsat
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Gaza Rescuers Say Nine Children among Dead in Israel Strike on UN Building
The Israeli army said it targeted Hamas militants in a strike on a UN building in Jabalia refugee camp Wednesday that Gaza's civil defense agency said killed 19 people, nine of them children. The army said in a statement that it struck the militants "inside a command and control centre that was being used for coordinating terrorist activity", and separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic. Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were also dozens of people wounded in the strike which "targeted an UNRWA building housing a medical clinic". The army said that "the compound was used by Hamas's Jabalia Battalion to plan terror attacks", and accused Hamas of "exploiting the civilian population as a human shield". The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the "massacre at the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia", calling for "serious international pressure" to halt Israel's widening offensive. The Islamic Jihad militant group, a Hamas ally, called the bombing a "blatant war crime". Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months. A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni school in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after UNRWA said six of its staff were among the 18 people reported killed. The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter -- a charge the Palestinian militant group denies. Israel resumed major airstrikes on the Palestinian territory on March 18, after talks on next steps in a six-week truce broke down. It also conducted airstrikes on southern and central Gaza on Wednesday that the civil defense agency said killed at least 15 people, including children, in the city of Khan Yunis and Nuseirat refugee camp. Since then, at least 1,042 people have been killed in Gaza, according to figures last updated by Gaza's health ministry on Tuesday. In total, 50,399 people have been killed since the start of the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack, according to the ministry's figures, which the United Nations views as reliable.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gaza rescuers say nine children among dead in Israel strike on UN building
The Israeli army said it targeted Hamas militants in a strike on a UN building in Jabalia refugee camp Wednesday that Gaza's civil defence agency said killed 19 people, nine of them children. The army said in a statement that it struck the militants "inside a command and control centre that was being used for coordinating terrorist activity", and separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were also dozens of people wounded in the strike which "targeted an UNRWA building housing a medical clinic". The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) was not immediately able to confirm the strike. The army said that "the compound was used by Hamas's Jabalia Battalion to plan terror attacks", and accused Hamas of "exploiting the civilian population as a human shield". The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the "massacre at the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia", calling for "serious international pressure" to halt Israel's widening offensive. The Islamic Jihad militant group, a Hamas ally, called the bombing a "blatant war crime". Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months. A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni school in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after UNRWA said six of its staff were among the 18 people reported killed. The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter -- a charge the Palestinian militant group denies. Israel resumed major air strikes on the Palestinian territory on March 18, after talks on next steps in a six-week truce broke down. It also conducted air strikes on southern and central Gaza on Wednesday that the civil defence agency said killed at least 15 people, including children, in the city of Khan Yunis and Nuseirat refugee camp. Since then, at least 1,042 people have been killed in Gaza, according to figures last updated by the Hamas-run health ministry on Tuesday. In total, 50,399 people have been killed since the start of the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack, according to the ministry's figures, which the United Nations views as reliable. bur-lba/kir
Khaleej Times
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Gaza rescuers say nine children among dead in Israel strike on UN building
The Israeli army said it targeted Hamas militants in a strike on a UN building in Jabalia refugee camp on Wednesday that Gaza's civil defence agency said killed 19 people, nine of them children. The army said in a statement that it struck the militants "inside a command and control centre that was being used for coordinating terrorist activity", and separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were also dozens of people wounded in the strike which "targeted an UNRWA building housing a medical clinic". The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) was not immediately able to confirm the strike. The army said that "the compound was used by Hamas's Jabalia Battalion to plan terror attacks", and accused Hamas of "exploiting the civilian population as a human shield". The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the "massacre at the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia", calling for "serious international pressure" to halt Israel's widening offensive. The Islamic Jihad militant group, a Hamas ally, called the bombing a "blatant war crime". Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months. A strike on the United Nations-run Al Jawni School in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after UNRWA said six of its staff were among the 18 people reported killed. The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter — a charge the Palestinian militant group denies. Israel resumed major air strikes on the Palestinian territory on March 18, after talks on next steps in a six-week truce broke down. It also conducted air strikes on southern and central Gaza on Wednesday that the civil defence agency said killed at least 15 people, including children, in the city of Khan Younis and Nuseirat refugee camp. Since then, at least 1,042 people have been killed in Gaza, according to figures last updated by the Hamas-run health ministry on Tuesday. In total, 50,399 people have been killed since the start of the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack, according to the ministry's figures, which the United Nations views as reliable.
Al Arabiya
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Gaza rescuers say nine children among dead in Israel strike on UN building
The Israeli army said it targeted Hamas militants in a strike on a UN building in Jabalia refugee camp Wednesday that Gaza's civil defense agency said killed 19 people, nine of them children. The army said in a statement that it struck the militants 'inside a command and control center that was being used for coordinating terrorist activity,' and separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic. For the latest updates on the Israel-Palestine conflict, visit our dedicated page. Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were also dozens of people wounded in the strike which 'targeted an UNRWA building housing a medical clinic.' The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) was not immediately able to confirm the strike. The army said that 'the compound was used by Hamas's Jabalia Battalion to plan terror attacks,' and accused Hamas of 'exploiting the civilian population as a human shield.' The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the 'massacre at the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia,' calling for 'serious international pressure' to halt Israel's widening offensive. The Islamic Jihad militant group, a Hamas ally, called the bombing a 'blatant war crime.' Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months. A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni school in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after UNRWA said six of its staff were among the 18 people reported killed. The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter -- a charge the Palestinian militant group denies. Israel resumed major air strikes on the Palestinian territory on March 18, after talks on next steps in a six-week truce broke down. Since then, at least 1,042 people have been killed in Gaza, according to figures last updated by the health ministry on Tuesday. In total, 50,399 people have been killed since the start of the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack, according to the ministry's figures, which the United Nations views as reliable.
