Latest news with #aid delivery
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Israeli strikes kill 37 in Gaza as civilians gather for aid
GAZA, Aug 10 — Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 37 people were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday, including 30 civilians who were waiting to collect aid. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 12 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on them as they gathered near a border crossing in northern Gaza that has been used for aid deliveries. Six more people were killed and 30 wounded after Israeli troops targeted civilians assembling near an aid point in central Gaza, he said. Strikes in central Gaza also resulted in multiple casualties, according to Bassal, while a drone attack near the southern city of Khan Yunis killed at least three people and wounded several others. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence and the Israeli military. Thousands of Palestinians congregate daily near food distribution points in Gaza, including four managed by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Since launching in late May, its operations have been marred by almost-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on those waiting to collect aid. Israeli restrictions on the entry of supplies into Gaza since the start of the war nearly two years ago have led to shortages of food and essential supplies, including medicine and fuel, which hospitals require to power their generators. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting pressure to agree to a ceasefire to bring the territory's more than two million people back from the brink of famine and free the hostages held by Palestinian militants. But early Friday, the Israeli security cabinet approved plans for a major operation to seize Gaza City, triggering a wave of outrage across the globe. Despite the backlash and rumours of dissent from Israeli military top brass, Netanyahu has remained defiant over the decision. In a post on social media late Friday, he said 'we are not going to occupy Gaza – we are going to free Gaza from Hamas'. The Palestinian militant group, whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered the war, has slammed the plan to expand the fighting as a 'new war crime'. Israel's offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable. Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. — AFP
CNA
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
Gaza civil defence says 34 killed by Israeli fire
GAZA: Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 34 people were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday. (Aug 9), including more than a dozen civilians who were waiting to collect aid. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP nine people were killed and 181 wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on them as they gathered near a border crossing in northern Gaza that has been used for aid deliveries. Six more people were killed and 30 wounded after Israeli troops targeted civilians assembling near an aid point in central Gaza, he said. Strikes in central Gaza also resulted in multiple casualties, according to Bassal. A drone attack near the southern city of Khan Younis killed at least three people and wounded several others. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence and the Israeli military. Thousands of Palestinians congregate daily near food distribution points in Gaza, including four managed by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Since launching in late May, its operations have been marred by almost-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on those waiting to collect aid. Israeli restrictions on the entry of supplies into Gaza since the start of the war nearly two years ago have led to shortages of food and essential supplies, including medicine and fuel, which hospitals require to power their generators. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting pressure to agree to a ceasefire to bring the territory's more than two million people back from the brink of famine and free the hostages held by Palestinian militants. But early Friday, the Israeli security cabinet approved plans for a major operation to seize Gaza City, triggering a wave of outrage across the globe. Despite the backlash and rumours of dissent from Israeli military top brass, Netanyahu has remained defiant over the decision. In a post on social media late Friday, he said, "We are not going to occupy Gaza - we are going to free Gaza from Hamas". The Palestinian militant group, whose Oct 7, 2023, attack triggered the war, has slammed the plan to expand the fighting as a "new war crime". Israel's offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable. Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Asharq Al-Awsat
02-08-2025
- Health
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israeli Fire Kills More than a Dozen in Gaza
Hospitals in Gaza reported the killing of more than a dozen people, eight of them food-seekers, by Israeli fire on Saturday as Palestinians endured severe risks in their search for food amid airdrops and restrictions on overland aid delivery. Near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid Saturday morning, described a panicked scene now grimly familiar. After helping carry out three people wounded by gunshots, he said he looked around and saw many others lying on the ground bleeding, reported The Associated Press said. 'It's the same daily episode,' Youssef said. In response to questions about several eyewitness accounts of violence at the northernmost of the Israeli-backed American contractor's four sites, the GHF media office said 'nothing (happened) at or near our sites.' The episode came a day after US officials visited one site and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called GHF's distribution 'an incredible feat.' International outrage has mounted as the group's efforts to deliver aid to hunger-stricken Gaza have been marred by violence and controversy. 'We weren't close to them (the troops) and there was no threat,' Abed Salah, a man in his 30s who was among the crowds close to the GHF site near Netzarim corridor, said. 'I escaped death miraculously.' The danger facing aid seekers in Gaza has compounded what international hunger experts this week called a 'worst-case scenario of famine' in the besieged enclave. Israel's nearly 22-month military offensive against Hamas has shattered security in the territory of some 2 million Palestinians and made it nearly impossible to deliver food safely to starving people. From May 27 to July 31, 859 people were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites, according to a United Nations report published Thursday. Hundreds more have been killed along the routes of food convoys. Israel and GHF have said they have only fired warning shots and that the toll has been exaggerated. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel 's military has said it has only fired warning shots at people who approach its forces, though on Friday said it was working to make the routes under its control safer. Health officials reported that Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least 18 Palestinians on Saturday, including three whose bodies were transported from the vicinity of a distribution site to a central Gaza hospital along with 36 others who were wounded. Officials said 10 of Saturday's casualties were killed by strikes in central and southern Gaza. Nasser Hospital said it received the bodies of five people killed in two separate strikes on tents sheltering displaced people. The dead include two brothers and a relative, who were killed when a strike hit their tent close to a main thoroughfare in Khan Younis. The Gaza health ministry's ambulance and emergency service said an Israeli strike hit a family house in an area between the towns of Zawaida and Deir al-Balah, killing two parents and their three children. Another strike hit a tent close to the gate of a closed prison where the displaced have sheltered in Khan Younis, killing a mother and her daughter, they said. The hospital said Israeli forces killed five other Palestinians who were among crowds awaiting aid near the newly constructed Morag corridor in Rafah and between Rafah and Khan Younis. Israel's military did not immediately respond to questions about the strikes or deaths near the aid sites. Hostage families protest to end war Meanwhile in Tel Aviv, families of Israeli hostages protested and urged Israel's government to push harder for the release of their loved ones, including those shown in footage released by militant groups earlier this week. US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff joined them a day after visiting Gaza and a week after walking away from ceasefire talks in Qatar, blaming Hamas's intransigence and pledging to find other ways to free hostages and make Gaza safe. Of the 251 hostages who were abducted when Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, around 20 are believed to be alive in Gaza. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza, released separate videos of individual hostages this week, triggering outrage among hostage families and Israeli society. Israeli media hasn't broadcast the videos, calling them propaganda, but the family of 21-year-old Rom Braslavski allowed for the release of a photograph showing him visibly emaciated in an unknown location. After viewing the video, Tami Braslavski, his mother, blamed top Israeli officials and demanded they meet with her. "They broke my child, I want him home now,' Braslavski told Ynet on Thursday. 'Look at him: Thin, limp, crying. All his bones are out.' Hostage families and their supporters protesting in Tel Aviv called on Israel's government to make a deal to end the war, imploring them to "stop this nightmare and bring them out of the tunnels' 'Do the right thing and just do it now,' Lior Chorev ,the Hostages Family Forum's Chief Strategy Officer said. Airdrops expand despite limited impact To circumvent restrictions on aid trucks crossing overland into Gaza, additional countries joined the Jordan-led coalition orchestrating parcels being dropped from the skies. Alongside Israel, several European countries announced plans this week to join airdrop efforts, though most acknowledge the strategy is woefully insufficient 'If there is political will to allow airdrops — which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings,' Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote on X on Saturday. 'Let's go back to what works & let us do our job.' The war in Gaza began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
South China Morning Post
02-08-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Israel kills another 18 in Gaza, 8 of them searching for food: hospitals
Hospitals in Gaza reported the killing of more than a dozen people, eight of them food-seekers, by Israeli fire on Saturday as Palestinians endured severe risks in their search for food amid airdrops and restrictions on overland aid delivery. Near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution site, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid on Saturday morning, described a panicked scene now grimly familiar. After helping carry out three people wounded by gunshots, he said he looked around and saw many others lying on the ground bleeding. 'It's the same daily episode,' Youssef said. In response to questions about several eyewitness accounts of violence at the northernmost of the Israeli-backed American contractor's four sites, the GHF media office said 'nothing (happened) at or near our sites'. The episode came a day after US officials visited one site and the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called GHF's distribution 'an incredible feat'. Palestinians wait for food at a charity kitchen in Gaza City. Photo: Reuters International outrage has mounted as the group's efforts to deliver aid to hunger-stricken Gaza have been marred by violence and controversy.
BreakingNews.ie
02-08-2025
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
Eight people seeking food among at least 12 killed by Israeli fire in Gaza
Hospitals in Gaza reported the killing of more than a dozen people, eight of them food-seekers, by Israeli fire on Saturday as Palestinians endured severe risks in their search for food amid airdrops and restrictions on overland aid delivery. Near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution site, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid on Saturday morning, described a panicked scene now grimly familiar. Advertisement After helping carry out three people wounded by gunshots, he said he looked around and saw many others lying on the ground bleeding. 'It's the same daily episode,' Mr Youssef said. In response to questions about several witness accounts of violence at the northernmost of the Israeli-backed American contractor's four sites, the GHF media office said 'nothing (happened) at or near our sites'. The episode came a day after US officials visited one site and the US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called GHF's distribution 'an incredible feat'. Advertisement International outrage has mounted as the group's efforts to deliver aid to hunger-stricken Gaza have been marred by violence and controversy. 'We weren't close to them (the troops) and there was no threat,' Abed Salah, a man in his 30s who was among the crowds close to the GHF site near Netzarim corridor, said. 'I escaped death miraculously.' Families of hostages protest Tel Aviv, Israel (Ariel Schalit/AP) The danger facing aid seekers in Gaza has compounded what international hunger experts this week called a 'worst-case scenario of famine' in the besieged enclave. Israel's near 22-month military offensive against Hamas has shattered security in the territory of some 2.0 million Palestinians and made it nearly impossible to deliver food safely to starving people. Advertisement From May 27 to July 31, 859 people were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites, according to a United Nations report published on Thursday. Hundreds more have been killed along the routes of food convoys. Israel and GHF have said they have only fired warning shots and that the toll has been exaggerated. Health officials reported that Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least 18 Palestinians on Saturday, including three whose bodies were transported from the vicinity of a distribution site to a central Gaza hospital along with 36 others who were wounded. Officials said 10 of Saturday's casualties were killed by strikes in central and southern Gaza. Advertisement Nasser Hospital said it received the bodies of five people killed in two separate strikes on tents sheltering displaced people. The dead include two brothers and a relative, who were killed when a strike hit their tent close to a main thoroughfare in Khan Younis. Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, families of Israeli hostages protested and urged Israel's government to push harder for the release of their loved ones, including those shown in footage released by militant groups earlier this week. US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff joined them a day after visiting Gaza and a week after walking away from ceasefire talks in Qatar, blaming Hamas's intransigence and pledging to find other ways to free hostages and make Gaza safe. Advertisement Of the 251 hostages who were abducted when Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023, about 20 are believed to be alive in Gaza. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza, released separate videos of individual hostages this week, triggering outrage among hostage families and Israeli society. The war in Gaza began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
