Latest news with #Whittall
Middle East Eye
21-07-2025
- Health
- Middle East Eye
Israel bombards Gaza's Deir al-Balah as 18 die from starvation
Israeli shelling pummelled the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah on Monday as the army warned it was launching an operation "in an area where it has not operated before". The Israeli military on Sunday ordered those in the central Gaza area, thought to be between 50,000 and 80,000 people, to leave immediately. The spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP that "we received calls from several families trapped in the Al-Baraka area of Deir el-Balah due to shelling by Israeli tanks". "There are a number of wounded, but no one can reach the area to evacuate them," he said. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the latest order leaves 87.8 percent of Gaza's area under "evacuation orders" or within Israeli militarised zones. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 58,895 Palestinians since October 2023, while almost the entire population has been displaced. On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said he had ordered the withdrawal of the residency permit of Jonathan Whittall, head of the OCHA in Israel. Sa'ar said Whittall had spread falsehoods about Israel's assault on Gaza, citing his "biased and hostile conduct against Israel". Whittall had previously described Palestinians in Gaza as "slowly dying" as a result of the war and Israel's blockade. Widespread hunger Palestinian health officials reported on Sunday that 18 people had died from malnutrition the previous day. They warned that hundreds more could soon face the same fate as hospitals are overwhelmed with patients suffering from dizziness and exhaustion caused by severe food shortages.
Days of Palestine
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
OCHA: Conditions in Gaza Are Designed to Kill
DaysofPal- The head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory, Jonathan Whittall, stated that the conditions civilians are enduring in Gaza are 'designed to kill.' In press remarks on Tuesday, Whittall said: 'What we are witnessing is a massacre. This is starvation being used as a weapon. This is forced displacement. This is a death sentence for people who are simply trying to survive.' He emphasized that these factors collectively amount to 'an operation to erase Palestinian life from Gaza.' Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation has been committing acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, disregarding international appeals and rulings by the International Court of Justice to cease such actions. The ongoing war has resulted in the deaths of 55,998 people—most of them women and children—and injured 131,559 others. These numbers are not final, as many victims remain trapped under rubble and on the roads, unreachable by rescue and medical teams. Shortlink for this post:
Scoop
22-06-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Gaza: UN Warns Of ‘Weaponised Hunger' And Growing Death Toll Amid Food Chaos
Speaking to journalists in Deir al Balah on Saturday, Jonathan Whittall, who heads the UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) in Gaza and the West Bank, said: 'The attempt to survive is being met with a death sentence.' Since Israel eased its total blockade last month, more than 400 people are reported to have died trying to reach food distribution points. 'We see a chilling pattern of Israeli forces opening fire on crowds gathering to get food,' Mr. Whittall said, noting many of these sites are in militarised zones. Others have been killed along access routes or while protecting aid convoys. 'It shouldn't be this way,' he said. 'There shouldn't be a death toll associated with accessing the essentials for life.' Empty warehouses, overwhelmed hospitals Conditions across Gaza continue to deteriorate. Water wells have run dry or are located in dangerous areas, sanitation systems have collapsed, and disease is spreading rapidly. 'Our warehouses stand empty,' Mr. Whittall said. 'Displaced families flee with nothing – and we have nothing to give them.' Partially functioning hospitals are overwhelmed by near-daily mass casualty events. Some have been directly hit, while others are choked by fuel shortages and forced evacuation orders. UNICEF reports more than 110 children are being treated for malnutrition every day. Mr. Whittall said humanitarian agencies are capable of reaching every family in the shattered enclave but are being systematically blocked. 'We have a we are prevented from doing so at every turn.' Death sentence He described the situation as 'weaponised hunger', 'forced displacement', and 'a death sentence for people just trying to survive'. 'This is carnage,' Mr. Whittall said. 'It appears to be the erasure of Palestinian life from Gaza.' He urged the international community to act: 'We need a lasting ceasefire, accountability, and real pressure to stop this. This is the bare minimum.'
Scoop
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
UN Aid Teams Plead For Access Amid Reports Gazans Shot Collecting Food
Unverified footage from Rafah where the privately-run but Israeli military-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is based showed scenes of panic with crowds of people rushing in different directions, while others carried away boxes of supplies. The UN human rights office, OHCHR, said that it had received information that at least 47 people had been hurt on Tuesday trying to collect aid. Those numbers could increase as information on the incident is still being gathered, said Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, speaking to journalists in Geneva on Wednesday. ' From January to March 2024, our office has documented 26 incidents where the Israel Defense Forces fired shots while people were collecting humanitarian aid, causing casualties at Al Kuwaiti roundabout and Al Naburasi roundabout,' Mr. Sunghay told UN News. Gaza 'crime scene' grows daily The situation in Gaza has reached unprecedented levels of devastation, with widespread displacement, starvation and destruction, said Jonathan Whittall on Wednesday, who's heads up UN aid coordination office, OCHA, for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. ' With each day that passes, Gaza is becoming a bigger and bigger crime scene,' Mr. Whittall warned, citing starvation, attacks on hospitals, aid worker deaths and entire communities displaced. 'Nowhere is safe. People are being starved and then drip-fed in the most undignified way possible.' He added the trickle of aid entering Gaza is 'far from enough' to meet basic needs, highlighting severe restrictions on aid delivery, with UN teams only allowed to distribute flour to bakeries and not to families directly. 'There must be accountability,' he stressed, urging political and economic pressure to end what he described as ongoing atrocities in Gaza. New aid model 'a grotesque symbol' He said the US-Israeli distribution scheme was "engineered scarcity: four distribution hubs located in central and southern Gaza, secured by private US security contractors, where those Palestinians who can reach them will receive rations." Mr. Whittall added that it could not possibly meet Gaza's needs. " Knowingly designing a plan that falls short of minimum obligations under international law, is essentially an admission of guilt." Locating the new aid model close to where Israeli forces killed and buried 15 mass responders earlier in the year is a "grotesque symbol of how life in Gaza, and that which sustains it, is being erased and controlled,' he said. No evidence of Hamas aid diversion Israel's claim that UN and partners' aid is being diverted by Hamas 'doesn't hold up to scrutiny,' he added. 'Aid coordinated through the UN system made up for 35 per cent of what entered during the ceasefire. We have no oversight on those supplies which were facilitated to enter by Israel through other channels. " The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces, and they were allowed to operate in proximity to the Kerem Shalom crossing point into Gaza' Renewed appeal for aid access Meanwhile, UN aid teams have continued to appeal to Israel for access to Gaza to deliver and distribute thousands of tonnes of food, medicine and other basic items waiting just outside Gaza. Jens Laerke from the UN agency OCHA insisted that the its staff have 'everything needed to get aid to civilians safely: the people, the networks and the trust' of Gazans. ' Right now, nearly 180,000 pallets of food and other life-saving aid stand ready to enter Gaza, the hungriest place on earth,' he told UN News. 'The supplies have already been paid for by the world's donors. It is cleared for customs, approved and ready to move. We can get the aid in – immediately, at scale and for as long as necessary.' 50,000 kids killed or injured In a related development, UNICEF announced that the war in Gaza has killed or injured more than 50,000 children in less than 600 days. UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram said that since the ceasefire ended on 18 March, approximately 1,300 children have been killed and 3,700 injured alone. That number is enough children to fill more than 1,600 classrooms, Ms. Ingram told UN News: 'Every one of these children is in life. A child with a family, with hopes for the future," she said. "And yet we continue to count their deaths and live stream their suffering to the world. This must end immediately. She added: " The children of Gaza desperately need protection from these ongoing bombardments, as well as food, water, medicine and other basic supplies that they need to survive. The blockade must end. Aid must flow freely and at scale, and more than anything else, we need a ceasefire we need collective action to stop these atrocities and to protect children.' The UNICEF official's comments follow an attack on a home last weekend that reportedly killed nine out of 10 siblings of one family, the Al-Najars; all the victims were 12 years old or younger.
Scoop
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Gaza: UN Official Warns Of ‘Assault On Dignity' As Blockade Cripples Humanitarian Response
The coming days in Gaza are set to be critical, the UN warned on Saturday, as humanitarian operations are severely curtailed amid an intensifying blockade, escalating violence, and soaring humanitarian needs. Speaking to journalists in Gaza City, Jonathan Whittall, local Head of Office for the UN aid coordination wing, OCHA, painted a dire picture of life under what he called a 'total and complete blockade' now approaching its third month. 'The coming days in Gaza are going to be critical. Today people are not surviving in Gaza, those that aren't being killed with bombs and bullets are slowly dying,' he said. Whittall stressed that humanitarian agencies are unable to meet the soaring needs of civilians due to the collapse of supply lines. Hospitals are overwhelmed, but medicines and equipment are running out. People are going hungry, but food warehouses are empty and bakeries are closing. Clean water is desperately needed, but water wells are inaccessible. He noted that solid waste is piling up in the streets with no equipment to remove it, and that rescue efforts after airstrikes are impossible without fuel and machinery. Displaced families are forced to live in rubble without shelter materials, and fishermen are being shot at sea, while humanitarian organisations lack the resources to assist them. 'Nowhere in Gaza today is safe', he said. He added that children need to learn, but schools have been destroyed or are inaccessible, and that education supplies are not available. Prices of the remaining goods in Gaza continue to rise, but there is no cash available. There is no cooking gas or fuel, forcing families to burn trash to generate some energy. A war 'without any limits' 'This is not only about humanitarian needs, but it's about dignity. There is an assault on people's dignity in Gaza today,' he warned. 'We also know that humanitarian workers, first responders, you as journalists, should be protected, like all civilians, but we're being killed in a war that appears to be fought without any limits,' he added. Whittall emphasised that the situation in Gaza does not even resemble a war. 'People in Gaza are telling me that they feel like it's the deliberate dismantling of Palestinian life in plain sight, for all to see, documented every day by you as journalists,' he said. He described the devastation witnessed daily — including children's bodies thrown by explosions, families burnt alive, and colleagues killed — as part of what he termed 'everyday atrocities.' 'As humanitarians we can see that aid is being weaponised through its denial,' he warned. 'There's no justification for the denial of humanitarian assistance. And humanitarian aid should never be weaponised.' Despite the catastrophic conditions, he stressed that humanitarian organisations are continuing to operate where possible, but 'we have less and less and less supplies and less and less capacity to be able to meet the growing and growing needs that are intensifying across Gaza.' 'Lives depend on the blockade being lifted, on aid being allowed to enter into Gaza, on the ceasefire being reinstated,' he said, calling for real accountability rather than waiting for history to judge the international community's response. Hunger and malnutrition surging In a separate statement, OCHA warned of a 'severe decline' in food availability across Gaza, as malnutrition rates escalate rapidly, particularly among children. A UN partner organisation recently screened around 1,300 children in northern Gaza and identified over 80 cases of acute malnutrition, representing more than double the rate recorded in previous weeks. 'Nutrition partners report a critical shortage of supplies due to the obstruction of aid entry and challenges in transporting essential materials within Gaza,' OCHA said. Access to key facilities, including UNICEF 's main warehouse in Rafah, remains heavily restricted. Journalists who visited the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) main warehouses this week found them largely empty of food supplies, including flour. Call for accountability and action 'Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,' UNRWA said in a separate statement, stressing that international law prohibits indiscriminate attacks, the obstruction of humanitarian assistance, and the destruction of vital civilian infrastructure. The agency reiterated its call for a renewed ceasefire, the dignified release of all hostages, and the immediate, unhindered flow of humanitarian aid and commercial goods into Gaza.
