Latest news with #foodassistance
LBCI
2 days ago
- General
- LBCI
WFP says 'hordes of hungry people' broke into Gaza warehouse in deadly incident
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said "hordes of hungry people" broke into one of the agency's warehouses in central Gaza on Wednesday and initial reports indicated that two people had died and several more were injured. "Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve," WFP said in a statement. Reuters
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
Two dead after crowds rush UN aid warehouse amid Gaza hunger crisis
At least two people have died after crowds of Palestinians stormed a United Nations aid warehouse in central Gaza, as humanitarian supplies slowly trickle into the besieged territory on the brink of famine. The World Food Programme said late on Wednesday that 'hordes of hungry people' broke into the al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, looking for food supplies. 'Initial reports indicate two people died and several were injured in the tragic incident,' WFP said in a statement on X, adding that it was still confirming details. 'Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve. WFP urgently calls for safe, unimpeded humanitarian access to enable orderly food distribution across Gaza immediately,' it added. After ending an 11-week blockade last week following growing international pressure, Israel has allowed limited humanitarian supplies to be delivered, but aid groups have warned that the amount is not nearly enough. Sigrid Kaag, the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the Security Council that the amount of aid Israel had so far allowed the UN to deliver was 'comparable to a lifeboat after the ship has sunk' when everyone in Gaza was facing the risk of famine. Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the Security Council that Israel would allow aid deliveries 'for the immediate future' via both the UN and the private United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Danon said the UN should 'put their ego aside and cooperate with the new mechanism'. However, the UN and other aid groups have said the private aid plan is not neutral. 'This new scheme is surveillance-based rationing that legitimises a policy of deprivation by design,' senior UN aid official for the occupied Palestinian territories, Jonathan Whittall, told reporters in Jerusalem. 'The UN has refused to participate in this scheme, warning that it is logistically unworkable and violates humanitarian principles by using aid as a tool in Israel's broader efforts to depopulate areas of Gaza,' he said. At least 10 people were killed when Israeli forces shot at Palestinians seeking aid at the GHF site in southern Gaza in separate incidents on Tuesday and Wednesday, Gaza's Government Media Office said. Dozens of people were injured when thousands of hungry Palestinians rushed the GHF site on Tuesday. According to the foundation, it handed out the equivalent of 840,262 meals on Tuesday and Wednesday. In Gaza, Israeli attacks on Thursday killed at least 30 people, medical sources have told Al Jazeera. Among those killed were seven people sheltering at a kindergarten in Jabalia, northern Gaza, medical sources said. Gaza's Ministry of Health said at least 19 people were killed in a series of Israeli attacks on residential buildings in the Bureij refugee camp.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Four killed as hordes of Palestinians storm UN warehouse in search for food
The United Nations World Food Programme said 'hordes of hungry people' broke into one of the agency's warehouses in central Gaza on Wednesday. Reports indicated that four people died, two shot dead and two crushed by crowds, and several more were injured in the incident in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. 'Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve,' WFP said in a statement. The deaths came a day after a crowd was fired upon while overrunning a new aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip set up by an Israeli and US-backed foundation, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding 48 others, Gaza's Health Ministry said. READ MORE Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour broke down in tears as he described the suffering of children in Gaza. Video: Reuters The Red Cross Field Hospital said the wounded from that scene included women and children with gunshot wounds. People broke through the fences around the distribution site in Gaza on Tuesday, and an Associated Press journalist heard Israeli tank and gunfire, and saw a military helicopter firing flares. Earlier, UN official Ajith Sunghay had said 47 Palestinians were injured, mostly by gunfire, at the hub set up by an Israeli and US-backed foundation outside Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah. It was not yet known whether the death and injuries were caused by Israeli forces, private contractors or others. The foundation said its military contractors had not fired on the crowd but 'fell back' before resuming aid operations. Israel said its troops nearby had fired warning shots. The distribution hub outside Rafah was opened the day before by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been slated by Israel to take over aid operations. The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new system, saying it will not be able to meet the needs of Gaza's 2.3 million people and allows Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that 'there was some loss of control momentarily' at the distribution point, adding that 'happily, we brought it under control'. He repeated that Israel plans to move Gaza's entire population to a 'sterile zone' at the southern end of the territory while troops fight Hamas elsewhere. Palestinians have become desperate for food after nearly three months of Israeli blockade pushed Gaza to the brink of famine. Meanwhile, Mr Netanyahu said Israel has killed senior Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, apparently confirming his death in a recent air strike in Gaza. Speaking before parliament, Mr Netanyahu included Mr Sinwar in a list of Hamas leaders killed in Israeli strikes. Mohammed Sinwar is the brother of Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds of Hamas's October 7th attack, who was killed by Israeli forces last year. In a separate development, Israel said it had carried out air strikes on the international airport in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, after Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired several missiles at the country in recent days, without causing casualties. The Israeli military said it destroyed aircraft used by the rebels. Israel last struck the airport in Sanaa on May 6th, destroying the airport's terminal and leaving its runway riddled with craters. Some flights resumed to Sanaa on May 17th. - Agencies
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Gaza warehouse broken into by 'hordes of hungry people' says WFP
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) says that "hordes of hungry people" have broken into a food supply warehouse in central people are reported to have died and several others injured in the incident, the programme said, adding that it was still confirming footage from AFP news agency showed crowds breaking into the Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah and taking bags of flour and cartons of food as gunshots rang out. It was not immediately clear where the gunshots came a statement, the WFP said humanitarian needs in Gaza had "spiralled out of control" after an almost three-month Israeli blockade that was eased last week. The WFP said that food supplies had been pre-positioned at the warehouse for programme added: "Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve."The WFP said it had "consistently warned of alarming and deteriorating conditions on the ground, and the risks imposed by limiting humanitarian aid to hungry people in desperate need of assistance". Israeli authorities said on Wednesday that 121 trucks belonging to the UN and the international community carrying humanitarian aid including flour and food were transferred into began to allow a limited amount of aid into Gaza last week.A controversial US and Israeli-backed group - the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) - was also established as a private aid distribution system. It uses US security contractors and bypasses the UN, which said it was unworkable and US and Israeli governments say the GHF, which has set up four distribution centres in southern and central Gaza, is preventing aid from being stolen by Hamas, which the armed group denies UN Humans Right Office said 47 people were injured on Tuesday after people overran one of the GHF distribution sites in the southern city of Rafah, a day after it began working senior UN official told journalists on Wednesday that desperate crowds were looting cargo off of UN aid Whittall, the head of the UN's humanitarian office for the occupied Palestinian territories, also said there was no evidence that Hamas was diverting aid coordinated through credible humanitarian said the real theft of relief goods since the beginning of the war had been carried out by criminal gangs which the Israeli army "allowed to operate in proximity to the Kerem Shalom crossing point in Gaza".The UN has argued that a surge of aid like the one during the recent ceasefire between Israeli and Hamas would reduce the threat of looting by hungry people and allow it to make full use of its well-established network of distribution across the Gaza Strip.
Arab News
3 days ago
- General
- Arab News
WFP says ‘hordes of hungry people' broke into Gaza warehouse
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations World Food Programme said 'hordes of hungry people' broke into one of the agency's warehouses in central Gaza on Wednesday and initial reports indicated that two people had died and several more were injured.'Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve,' WFP said in a statement.
