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Palestinians distraught over relatives missing at deadly Gaza aid sites
Palestinians distraught over relatives missing at deadly Gaza aid sites

Al Jazeera

time5 days ago

  • Politics
  • Al Jazeera

Palestinians distraught over relatives missing at deadly Gaza aid sites

As Israeli-induced forced starvation tightens its grip on Gaza's entire population, an increasing number of Palestinian families are frantically searching for news of relatives who undertook perilous journeys to get food from aid distributions points, never to return. Khaled Obaid has been searching for his beloved son, Ahmed, for two months, scanning every passing vehicle on the coastal road in Deir-el-Balah, hoping against all odds that one of them might bring him home. The boy had left the displaced family's tent in the central town on a mission to find food for his parents and his sister, who lost her husband during the war, heading to the Zikim crossing point for aid trucks entering northern Gaza. 'He hasn't returned until now. He went because he was hungry. We have nothing to eat,' the distraught father told Al Jazeera, he and his wife breaking down in tears under the sheets of blue tarpaulin where they are sheltering. Khaled reported his son's disappearance to the International Committee of the Red Cross and every official body he could reach – to radio silence. To this day, he has received no answers on the whereabouts of his son. Khaled's story is all too common under Israel's ongoing punishing blockade of Gaza, where the largely displaced population faces a stark choice between starvation or braving bullets fired by Israeli soldiers and United States security contractors in a bid to find food from US- and Israel-backed GHF sites dubbed 'death traps' and 'human slaughterhouses' by the United Nations and rights groups. It is a life-or-death gamble that has taking the lives of nearly 1400 people, gunned down mainly by the Israeli army, at the aid sites since they started operations in late May, according to figures released by the UN this week. That is without counting the untold numbers of missing aid seekers – people like Ahmed. Human rights monitors have been collecting harrowing first-hand accounts of individuals who have gone missing in Gaza, only to be found later, killed by Israeli forces. 'In many cases, those who went missing are apparently killed near the aid distribution points, but due to the Israeli targeting, their bodies remained unreachable,' Maha Hussaini, Head of Media at Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, told Al Jazeera. 'Many Palestinians left home with empty hands, hoping to return with a bag of flour. But many never came back,' said Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir-el-Balah. 'In Gaza, the line between survival and disappearance is now heartbreakingly thin.' As the numbers of missing aid seekers mounts, famine stalks the enclave, with over 80 adults reportedly dying of starvation over the past five weeks alone and 93 children succumbing to man-made malnutrition since the war began. Authorities in Gaza say an average of 84 trucks have entered the besieged enclave a day since Israel eased restrictions on July 27. But aid organisations say at least 600 aid trucks are needed per day to meet the territory's basic needs. 'Death circle' On Monday, amid growing international condemnation over mass starvation widely seen as deliberately engineered by Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to double down on his war goals. Netanyahu announced that he would convene a meeting of his cabinet Tuesday to ensure 'Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel'. Israel's Channel 12 cited an official as saying that Netanyahu was tending towards expanding the offensive. The announcement came on another bloody day in the Strip, with at least 74 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since dawn on Monday, including 36 aid seekers, according to medical sources. Among the attacks, at least three were killed by an Israeli strike on a house in Deir-el-Balah, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. A source at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City reported that seven people were killed in Israeli shelling on multiple areas in the Shujayea neighbourhood, east of Gaza City. Emergency services said that two were killed in an Israeli bombing of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza. It also emerged on Monday that a nurse at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah was killed when he was hit by an airdropped box of aid. This week, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini described the dangerous airdrops as a 'distraction' and a smokescreen. On Monday, UNICEF warned that 28 children – essentially an entire 'classroom' – are dying a day from Israeli bombardment and lack of aid. 'Gaza's children need food, water, medicine and protection. More than anything, they need a ceasefire, NOW,' said the UN agency on X. Death by by malnutrition and by lack of aid and vital Gaza, an average of 28 children a day - the size of a classroom - have been killed. Gaza's children need food, water, medicine and protection. More than anything, they need a… — UNICEF (@UNICEF) August 4, 2025 The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on the UN Security Council to 'assume its responsibilities' by enforcing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, conducting an official visit to the territory and implementing calls at a recent UN conference in New York for a two-state solution. In a statement posted on social media on Monday, the ministry warned that more than two million Palestinians in Gaza are 'living in a tight death circle of killing, starvation, thirst, and deprivation of medicine, treatment, and all basic human rights'.

As Gaza suffers, US companies are reaping horrific payoffs
As Gaza suffers, US companies are reaping horrific payoffs

The Guardian

time31-07-2025

  • Business
  • The Guardian

As Gaza suffers, US companies are reaping horrific payoffs

Thousands of famished people waiting for hours in 90-degree heat to secure bags of flour that run out after 10 minutes – this is a typical scene at the four aid distribution centers remaining in Gaza. The cause of this desperation isn't shortages per se, because the World Food Programme has tons of food waiting to be delivered to malnourished Palestinians. Instead, the problem is Israel's months-long blockade of aid, which more than 100 humanitarian organizations have stated is causing 'chaos, starvation, and death'. And though Israeli authorities began allowing a trickle of convoys to resume deliveries over the weekend, the face-saving gesture is too little for the one in three Gazans who haven't eaten in days, and too late for the dozens who have already starved to death. Amid this manufactured famine, however, Israel has permitted another kind of shipment to flow freely. Weapons imports have continued unabated, with thousands of pounds of bombs, guns and ammunition pouring into the Israel Defense Forces. A new report by Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has uncovered the major supplier of this fatal equipment: the United States. Titled 'From economy of occupation to economy of genocide', the exposé lays bare how major American corporations have been all too eager to facilitate Israel's atrocities in Gaza in exchange for billions of dollars in revenue. It also reveals our nation's now undeniable complicity in what has been described as the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. War profiteering is a phenomenon as ancient as war itself, but Albanese's investigation shows that the military-industrial-technological complex is reaping uniquely horrible payoffs in Palestine. Albanese describes how companies led by Lockheed Martin have built fighter jets for Israel that have carried out bombings which have killed or wounded almost 200,000 Palestinians. She describes Palantir's work with the Israeli military, and its consummation of that partnership by holding a board meeting in Tel Aviv (Palantir has denied involvement in IDF programs identifying Gaza targets). And she brings to light how Caterpillar Inc equipment has demolished homes and hospitals, crushing to death civilians stuck inside those structures. Perhaps the most hypocritical offenders are the members of the Magnificent Seven. Google's unofficial motto was once 'Don't be evil,' but now the company has joined Amazon to provide cloud computing services to Israel and its military for a persuasive $1.2bn. Albanese quotes an Israeli colonel who calls this technology 'a weapon in every sense of the word', a cloud as deadly as any poison gas. The Trump administration has responded to Albanese's research with its classic combination of denial and retribution. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has sanctioned her, calling her work 'political and economic warfare'. But Albanese's conclusions align with those of several prominent Jewish and Israeli figures. The former IDF soldier and leading genocide historian Omer Bartov defended Albanese by writing, 'I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one.' On Monday, two major Israeli human rights groups announced they agreed with that description. The journalist Peter Beinart, the editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, has called Israel an apartheid state, and recently condemned the crisis in Gaza as 'an astonishing level of death and suffering that has been normalized'. A simple scan of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz turns up recent headlines like 'The Mathematics of Starvation' and 'Israel's Destruction of Gaza'. In the US Capitol, progressive lawmakers such as Representative Rashida Tlaib and Senator Bernie Sanders have repeatedly called for ending the transfer of US arms to Israel. A handful of other Democrats have also introduced the Block the Bombs Act, which would prohibit the sale of certain weapons without congressional approval, including those made by American companies like Boeing and General Dynamics. While the bill has gained little traction, outrage over Gaza has become a bipartisan consensus among voters. Only 23% of Americans deem Israel's military actions to be justified. But with activists like Mahmoud Khalil facing deportation over their pro-Palestinian advocacy, and with other protests worldwide being met with brutal and even deadly repression, crystallizing sentiment into a social movement seems an increasingly daunting task. Amid so much pushback, though, grassroots organizing against weapons exports to Israel still represents a concrete if challenging opportunity for change. Students in Israel, the US and across the globe have already been providing a moral witness on this front, despite the threat of retaliation, expulsion and blacklisting. Now, a broader coalition will be necessary to convince lawmakers that they should fear constituent backlash more than a primary challenge bankrolled by Aipac. Beyond pouring into the streets, Americans can also boycott the corporations living large while the population of Palestine dwindles. The employees of those very companies can do the same, like the 50 now-terminated workers at Google who led 'No Tech for Apartheid' protests last year. Otherwise, the warning recently issued by Beinart will remain true: 'Blood is on our hands as Americans because it is our weapons that are responsible for those children starving to death.' In the meantime, the thirsty toddlers of Khan Younis will continue to wait for some drops of salt water to drink, and the emaciated doctors of Gaza City will continue to scrounge for a few cans of expired food to eat. Katrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of the Nation, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a contributor to the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times

As Gaza suffers, US companies are reaping horrific payoffs
As Gaza suffers, US companies are reaping horrific payoffs

The Guardian

time31-07-2025

  • Business
  • The Guardian

As Gaza suffers, US companies are reaping horrific payoffs

Thousands of famished people waiting for hours in 90-degree heat to secure bags of flour that run out after 10 minutes – this is a typical scene at the four aid distribution centers remaining in Gaza. The cause of this desperation isn't shortages per se, because the World Food Programme has tons of food waiting to be delivered to malnourished Palestinians. Instead, the problem is Israel's months-long blockade of aid, which more than 100 humanitarian organizations have stated is causing 'chaos, starvation, and death'. And though Israeli authorities began allowing a trickle of convoys to resume deliveries over the weekend, the face-saving gesture is too little for the one in three Gazans who haven't eaten in days, and too late for the dozens who have already starved to death. Amid this manufactured famine, however, Israel has permitted another kind of shipment to flow freely. Weapons imports have continued unabated, with thousands of pounds of bombs, guns and ammunition pouring into the Israel Defense Forces. A new report by Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has uncovered the major supplier of this fatal equipment: the United States. Titled 'From economy of occupation to economy of genocide', the exposé lays bare how major American corporations have been all too eager to facilitate Israel's atrocities in Gaza in exchange for billions of dollars in revenue. It also reveals our nation's now undeniable complicity in what has been described as the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. War profiteering is a phenomenon as ancient as war itself, but Albanese's investigation shows that the military-industrial-technological complex is reaping uniquely horrible payoffs in Palestine. Albanese describes how companies led by Lockheed Martin have built fighter jets for Israel that have carried out bombings which have killed or wounded almost 200,000 Palestinians. She describes Palantir's work with the Israeli military, and its consummation of that partnership by holding a board meeting in Tel Aviv (Palantir has denied involvement in IDF programs identifying Gaza targets). And she brings to light how Caterpillar Inc equipment has demolished homes and hospitals, crushing to death civilians stuck inside those structures. Perhaps the most hypocritical offenders are the members of the Magnificent Seven. Google's unofficial motto was once 'Don't be evil,' but now the company has joined Amazon to provide cloud computing services to Israel and its military for a persuasive $1.2bn. Albanese quotes an Israeli colonel who calls this technology 'a weapon in every sense of the word', a cloud as deadly as any poison gas. The Trump administration has responded to Albanese's research with its classic combination of denial and retribution. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has sanctioned her, calling her work 'political and economic warfare'. But Albanese's conclusions align with those of several prominent Jewish and Israeli figures. The former IDF soldier and leading genocide historian Omer Bartov defended Albanese by writing, 'I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one.' On Monday, two major Israeli human rights groups announced they agreed with that description. The journalist Peter Beinart, the editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, has called Israel an apartheid state, and recently condemned the crisis in Gaza as 'an astonishing level of death and suffering that has been normalized'. A simple scan of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz turns up recent headlines like 'The Mathematics of Starvation' and 'Israel's Destruction of Gaza'. In the US Capitol, progressive lawmakers such as Representative Rashida Tlaib and Senator Bernie Sanders have repeatedly called for ending the transfer of US arms to Israel. A handful of other Democrats have also introduced the Block the Bombs Act, which would prohibit the sale of certain weapons without congressional approval, including those made by American companies like Boeing and General Dynamics. While the bill has gained little traction, outrage over Gaza has become a bipartisan consensus among voters. Only 23% of Americans deem Israel's military actions to be justified. But with activists like Mahmoud Khalil facing deportation over their pro-Palestinian advocacy, and with other protests worldwide being met with brutal and even deadly repression, crystallizing sentiment into a social movement seems an increasingly daunting task. Amid so much pushback, though, grassroots organizing against weapons exports to Israel still represents a concrete if challenging opportunity for change. Students in Israel, the US and across the globe have already been providing a moral witness on this front, despite the threat of retaliation, expulsion and blacklisting. Now, a broader coalition will be necessary to convince lawmakers that they should fear constituent backlash more than a primary challenge bankrolled by Aipac. Beyond pouring into the streets, Americans can also boycott the corporations living large while the population of Palestine dwindles. The employees of those very companies can do the same, like the 50 now-terminated workers at Google who led 'No Tech for Apartheid' protests last year. Otherwise, the warning recently issued by Beinart will remain true: 'Blood is on our hands as Americans because it is our weapons that are responsible for those children starving to death.' In the meantime, the thirsty toddlers of Khan Younis will continue to wait for some drops of salt water to drink, and the emaciated doctors of Gaza City will continue to scrounge for a few cans of expired food to eat. Katrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of the Nation, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a contributor to the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times

Detained Australians on hunger strike after Israeli navy intercepted Gaza-bound aid boat
Detained Australians on hunger strike after Israeli navy intercepted Gaza-bound aid boat

SBS Australia

time28-07-2025

  • Politics
  • SBS Australia

Detained Australians on hunger strike after Israeli navy intercepted Gaza-bound aid boat

Two Australians detained by Israeli naval officers are on a hunger strike in solidarity with the people in Gaza, calling for an end to the aid blockade. Australian journalist Tan Safi and activist Robert Martin were with 19 others on board the vessel, dubbed Handala, attempting to break Israel and Egypt's blockade and deliver aid to Gaza. The pro-Palestinian group was intercepted roughly 57 nautical miles from Gaza, according to the organisers Freedom Flotilla Coalition, with a livestream of the boat showing the activists holding up their hands as armed soldiers boarded the vessel, before the feed was cut. SBS News has not been able to independently verify the vessel's location at the interception point. James Godfrey, a spokesperson for Freedom Flotilla Coalition and Free Gaza Australia, said they've made contact with Safi and Martin via lawyers from Adalah, a legal support organisation in Israel. The vessel called Handala departed from Italy one week ago, aiming to reach Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid and break the Israeli blockade. Source: Getty / Anadolu "They've been in touch with nearly everybody who was kidnapped on board Handala, including Robert and Tan," Godfrey told SBS News. Detainees were reportedly told to either accept "voluntary deportation" or remain detained and appear before a tribunal, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. "We're anticipating that they will be taken to some kind of Israeli court or tribunal today, our time," he said. "They're currently both on hunger strike in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza who are being starved by the Israeli government with the support of the Australian government." Israel's government denies it imposes a policy of starvation in Gaza, with its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying: "There is no starvation in Gaza". Following international pressure, Israel resumed airdropping aid to Gaza on Sunday, with the Israeli military announcing it would establish designated corridors to enable the movement of United Nations convoys to deliver aid. Three people on board the Handala, from Italy, France and the United States, have been reportedly deported, and a further two interrogated and released. Godfrey urged Israel to act in accordance with the International Court of Justice's ruling on aid and that it should be, "unhindered in being delivered to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and they need to step up and do the work and deliver aid". "But as long as they keep failing, we'll have to keep sailing," he said. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed the two Australians were on the boat and were ready to assist, where possible. "Our officials in Tel Aviv are liaising with authorities, and consular officers stand ready to offer assistance to affected Australians," a spokesperson said on Sunday. 'We count on you': Australians call on the government to intervene In a letter, obtained by their lawyers, Safi and Martin have called on the government, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, to intervene on their matter. "We demand you ensure our safe, immediate release from those same forces who have abducted us, and illegally intercepted our non-violent action to bring baby formula to starving Palestinian babies," they wrote. In the letter, Safi and Martin said Australia should stop trade with Israel, stop sending weapons components and "stop protecting Israel from any accountability or consequence". "We count on you to do better — now," they wrote. On Sunday, Albanese said international law stated innocent people should not be held responsible for the actions of the Hamas, which in its entirety is listed as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and seven other countries, including Australia. "I'm a supporter of Israel and Israel's right to defend itself, but that boy isn't challenging Israel's right to existence, and nor are the many who continue to suffer from the unavailability of food and water," the prime minister said.

Israel reviews Hamas ceasefire proposal as WHO says ‘man-made' starvation grips Gaza
Israel reviews Hamas ceasefire proposal as WHO says ‘man-made' starvation grips Gaza

CNN

time24-07-2025

  • Health
  • CNN

Israel reviews Hamas ceasefire proposal as WHO says ‘man-made' starvation grips Gaza

Update: Date: 39 min ago Title: Gazans face starvation while supermarkets are full 'a few kilometers away,' says UNRWA Content: Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation while nearby supermarkets in Israel are stocked with food, UNRWA, the main United Nations providing essential services for Palestinian refugees, warned Thursday. 'People are being starved, while a few kilometers away supermarkets are loaded with food,' UNRWA wrote on X. The agency said it has thousands of trucks in neighboring countries, waiting for the green light to be allowed in. Without naming Israel, the statement demanded that the 'siege' be lifted and aid be let in 'at scale.' Update: Date: 8 min ago Title: Gaza facing "man-made" mass starvation, WHO chief says Content: Palestinians in Gaza are suffering a man-made 'mass starvation' due to the aid blockade on the enclave, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned reporters at a briefing Wednesday. 'Parents tell us their children cry themselves to sleep from hunger,' Ghebreyesus said. 'Food distribution sites have become places of violence.' Ghebreyesus' answer was unambiguous when asked whether he agrees with a statement this week from over 100 aid organizations that Gaza is experiencing 'mass starvation.' Earlier in the briefing, one of the WHO chief's colleagues expressed reservations about using the term. 'Mass starvation means starvation of a large portion of the population,' Ghebreyesus said. 'And a large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving. I don't know what you'd call it other than mass starvation. And it is man-made, and that's very clear.' 'This is because of (the) blockade,' Ghebreyesus continued. 'And then of course there is an opening now, but it's not enough. It is just a trickle and people are starving.' 'I don't know why we're even splitting hairs here,' Ghebreyesus added. The WHO chief pointed to a UN report from this week noting that over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid since late May, hundreds of them at sites managed by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The organization said in a statement to CNN that the UN statistics are 'false and exaggerated.' Israeli officials have blamed Hamas for any hunger in Gaza. Update: Date: 1 min ago Title: Hamas says it submitted new response to ceasefire mediators Content: Hamas said early Thursday morning that it has submitted a new response to ceasefire mediators, several days after the militant group received the latest ceasefire and hostage release proposal. The Hamas statement did not include any details on what its new proposal contains. On Wednesday, an Egyptian source told CNN that Qatari and Egyptian negotiators requested that Hamas submit a revised proposal after rejecting an earlier draft. Sticking points: Last week, the United States successfully pressured Israel to drop its objections to withdrawing its troops from a southern corridor in Gaza, two sources familiar with the negotiations told CNN. This week, the US communicated to Hamas that it is running out of patience and that the group must soon provide its response to the latest framework for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, the sources added. Both sources said the US, Qatar and Egypt – the main mediators in the ceasefire negotiations – were bringing heavy pressure on Hamas to reach a deal. 'We don't have time,' one of the sources said, pointing to the high daily death toll in Gaza and deteriorating humanitarian conditions. Previous reporting from CNN's Jeremy Diamond. Update: Date: 41 min ago Title: At least 1,500 aid trucks needed daily to combat starvation in Gaza, hospital director says Content: The director of Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza called to ramp up the entry of humanitarian aid as starvation spreads across the Strip. 'Gaza needs at least 1,500 aid trucks every single day for a month — just to begin healing from the wounds left by the weapon of starvation,' Dr. Fadel Naim said Thursday. On Wednesday, around 70 trucks were unloaded at aid crossings, and over 150 were collected by the UN and international organizations from the Gazan side of the border, according to COGAT, the Israeli agency that manages the flow of aid into Gaza. Before the war began on October 7, 2023, an average of 500 to 600 trucks entered Gaza each day, according to the United Nations. Naim's statement comes amid ongoing warnings from aid agencies about severe shortages of food and widespread hunger in the territory. The UN says more than a thousand people have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking food since late May, when a controversial Israel and US-backed aid group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), began operating. Of those, hundreds have died near GHF sites, according to the UN. The GHF was created to replace the UN's long-established role distributing aid in Gaza and has been widely criticized for failing to provide adequate and safe access to desperately needed supplies. On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said 900,000 children are going hungry, and 70,000 already show signs of malnutrition.

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