Latest news with #hunger
SBS Australia
40 minutes ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Save the Children in Gaza: 'The situation here is absolutely dire'
"You know, this is another mass casualty incident that is being reported in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for Food Distribution. The situation here is absolutely dire. And my team said to me today, the situation in Gaza has never been this bad. They are desperately hungry." That was Rachael Cummings, Save The Children's Humanitarian Director in Gaza. "Children are crying all the time for food. And my teams who are employed, they have money in their bank accounts, they're unable to find food in Gaza to buy. So the situation is absolutely terrible and people are making impossible choices to risk their lives to try and find food." On Sunday, Gaza's civil defence organisation says the Israeli army killed 93 people and wounded dozens more as they were lining up for humanitarian aid. According to witnesses and officials, 80 people were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north. Ehab Al-Zein was a witness to the attack and says those killed were starving and trying to feed their families. "We were waiting for flour because of hunger. We wanted to eat and drink. Suddenly the tanks came out, surrounding us. They started shooting at us and we were unable to move. We could not get the flour and we remained surrounded for about an hour and a half to two hours. Some escaped, some were killed and others were injured. As you can see, this is our situation." The Civil Defence Agency says Israeli troops shot and killed nine others near an aid point close to Rafah, where dozens of people were killed just 24 hours earlier. The Israeli military says it contests the death toll and claims IDF soldiers do not target civilians. Health authorities in Gaza say on Sunday, 18 people died of starvation. In a post on social media, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees condemned ongoing aid restrictions and said: 'This is a manmade and politically motivated starvation of a people'. Um Mahmoud Abu Tarboosh says all she wants is to feed her son. "Certainly, it feels like weakness and sadness because I can't even provide my son with just bread. We don't want meat, chicken, or poultry, just flour and bread to eat and hopefully stave off hunger. Of course, I will remain very upset. I tell you, I prioritise my son over myself, giving him my portion and saying that I will endure." As the Gaza Health Ministry's recorded death toll nears 60,000, Israeli forces are launching a new ground offensive in the central Gaza area of Deir al-Balah. The Israeli military issued displacement orders for the area, which Save The Children estimates is sheltering between 50,000 and 80,000 displaced Palestinians. Most Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced multiple times since 2023, and the United Nations says over 86 per cent of Gaza is now controlled by the IDF. Rachael Cummings says the people in Gaza have nowhere to "We're in Deir al-Balah, and today there was evacuation notices across Deir al-Balah affecting between 50 and 80,000 people who are now being forcibly displaced from Deir al-Balah into Al-Muwasi in Khan Younis, and some of my team are living in these areas, and they literally have nowhere to go. There is nowhere for people to go, there is nowhere safe in Gaza for people to move to. So the situation for my team and other humanitarian workers here is absolutely desperate." The expanding ground invasion of Deir al-Balah has prompted outcry from hostage families in Israel. While the Israeli military statement says the IDF has not operated in Deir al-Balah before, Israel has conducted air strikes there, and ground forces have previously operated on the outskirts of the city. However, with 20 of the 50 remaining Israeli hostages believed to be alive in Gaza, some Israelis fear they are being held in Deir al-Balah and are at imminent risk if IDF forces invade. Ruhama Bohbot is the mother of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. She says she is very worried about the new orders. "I am indeed worried because I didn't understand why they arrived there today just as the negotiations are starting to progress and the deal is likely to go through. I am very optimistic, which is why I speak cautiously. It didn't sit well with me because people forget that what's happening is that the hostages are forty metres underground, which endangers them and also endangers our IDF soldiers, as well as our security forces." Israel's army chief, Eyal Zamir, says he believes a ceasefire and hostage release deal is increasingly possible. During indirect negotiations in Qatar, Israel and Hamas have been struggling for months to reach a deal enabling a 60-day ceasefire and the release of hostages. If a temporary ceasefire deal is reached, the parties will then negotiate an end to Israel's war on Gaza and the release of the last Israeli hostages. Ruby Chen, the father of US-Israeli IDF soldier Itay Chen, says a deal must be done. "We know the outlines of the deal exists. What's missing is the final push. The kind of resolve that only President Trump can bring. The voice that says, enough waiting, enough bullshitting - now is the time to end the suffering and bring a deal that all the hostages, all the 50 hostages are able to come back. And there will be consequences for those responsible for the collapse of the deal." Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar says he has ordered the withdrawal of a senior UN humanitarian official's residency permit, accusing him of spreading lies about Israel. Jonathan Whittall, who lives in Jerusalem and frequently visits the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly condemned the conditions imposed by Israel on the more than two million people living in Gaza. Since October 2023, Israel has made it harder to get visas for those working for OCHA, the UN human rights office, and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Save The Children's Rachael Cummings says aid workers in Gaza must be allowed to do their job. "There's two million people in Gaza on the brink of famine. We need safe and dignified distributions. We need the humanitarian community to be allowed to do our jobs. We know how to deliver food and services to children and their families across Gaza. We just need to be able to do that."
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Israeli forces kill 67 Palestinians seeking aid in northern Gaza, Hamas-run ministry says
The Israeli military has killed at least 67 people waiting for UN aid lorries in northern Gaza, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says. The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy "encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire", soon after it crossed from Israel and cleared checkpoints. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that it had "fired warning shots" to remove "an immediate threat". It disputed the number of reported deaths. On Saturday the ministry warned that extreme hunger was increasing in Gaza and growing numbers of people were arriving at its facilities "in a state of extreme exhaustion and fatigue". "We warn that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger," it said. The UN has also said civilians in Gaza are starving and called for an urgent influx of essential goods. On Sunday the ministry said it had recorded 18 deaths "due to famine" over the past 24 hours. Many of the casualties from northern Gaza were taken to Shifa hospital in Gaza City. The medical director there, Dr Hassan al-Shaer, told BBC Arabic on Sunday the facility had been "overwhelmed". Outside the hospital one woman told BBC Arabic that "the whole population is dying". "Children are dying of hunger because they have nothing to eat. People are surviving on water and salt… just water and salt," she said. In an updated death toll, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire had killed a total of 93 people and wounded dozens more across Gaza on Sunday. Eighty people were killed in northern Gaza, it said, while nine people were shot dead near an aid point in Rafah and four more near an aid point in Khan Younis, both in southern Gaza. In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater told AFP he had attempted to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd and "deadly overcrowding and pushing". "The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and Israeli sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest," he said. "Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone." The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as "completely unacceptable". In a statement posted on X, the WFP said "malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment". "Nearly one person in three is not eating for days," it said. There have been almost daily reports of Palestinians being killed while seeking food since late May. On Saturday at least 32 people were killed by Israeli gunfire near two aid distribution points in southern Gaza, according to the ministry. Many of the incidents have taken place near sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which uses private security contractors to distribute aid from sites in Israeli military zones, but some have taken place near aid brought in by the UN. Meanwhile the Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for a crowded part of central Gaza where it has not launched a ground offensive during its 21 months of war against Hamas. The IDF said on Sunday that residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the city of Deir al-Balah should evacuate immediately and move towards al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast. The evacuation demand, which could signal an imminent attack, has caused widespread panic among tens of thousands of Palestinians, as well as the families of Israeli hostages who fear their relatives are being held in the city. The IDF has conducted air strikes in the area, but it has not yet deployed ground troops. On Sunday, the Israeli military dropped leaflets from the sky ordering people in several districts in southwest Deir al-Balah to leave their homes and head further south. "The (Israeli) Defense Forces continues to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area," the military said, adding that it had not yet entered these districts during the war. The affected neighbourhoods of Deir al-Balah are crowded with displaced people living in tents. Israeli sources told Reuters news agency that the reason the army has stayed out of these districts so far is because they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to still be alive. Most of the Strip's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during Israel's war with Hamas, with repeated Israeli evacuation calls covering large parts of the territory. On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV called for an "immediate end to the barbarity of the war" and urged against "indiscriminate use of force". His comments came days after a deadly Israeli strike hit Gaza's only Catholic Church, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country deeply regretted. Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to 251 others being taken hostage. Israeli attacks have since killed more than 58,895 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry's figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties. Dozens killed by Israeli gunfire near aid sites in south Gaza, Hamas-run ministry says Israel says it regrets deadly strike on Catholic Church in Gaza Solve the daily Crossword
New York Times
9 hours ago
- Health
- New York Times
Monday Briefing: Dozens Killed in Gaza
Israel killed dozens of Palestinians looking for aid, Gaza officials said Israeli forces yesterday killed and wounded dozens of Palestinians who were gathered in northern Gaza to receive aid from U.N. trucks entering the territory, the Gaza health ministry and health workers said. The health ministry and a hospital director in Gaza City said that more than 60 people were killed in the attack, which took place near the Zikim crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel. A nearby field hospital was flooded with victims, including more than 100 who were wounded. Israel's military said that its soldiers fired warning shots, and that they then opened fire to 'remove an immediate threat,' which it did not specify. It also said the reported toll from the violence did 'not align' with its review, and that it was continuing to examine the episode. The U.N. World Food Program said that its convoy of 25 trucks carrying food for Palestinians was entering northern Gaza when it 'encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire.' Chaos has dominated aid distribution in Gaza, where Palestinians are facing widespread hunger. Israeli soldiers have repeatedly opened fire near huge crowds of Palestinians desperate for food and other aid. Evacuations: After the shooting, the Israeli military warned Palestinians to leave the populated areas of northern Gaza and parts of Gaza City, describing them as 'combat zones.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNN
9 hours ago
- Health
- CNN
Four-year-old girl dies of hunger in Gaza as Israel throttles food supply
Four-year old Razan Abu Zaher gave up her fight for life on Sunday. She died at a hospital in central Gaza from complications brought on by hunger and malnutrition, according to a medical source. Her skeletal body was laid out on a slab of stone. At least 76 children in Gaza have died of malnutrition since the conflict began in October 2023, as well as ten adults, the Palestinian health ministry says. According to the World Health Organization, most of these occurred since Israeli authorities imposed a blockade at the beginning of March. Razan was one of at least four children to succumb in the last three days, the youngest just three months. Over the past 24 hours, 18 deaths have been recorded due to famine in Gaza, the health ministry says, reflecting a deepening crisis in the territory. CNN first met Razan a month ago. She was already weak with hunger and pitifully thin. Her mother, Tahrir Abu Daher, said then that she had no money to buy milk, which was in any case rarely available. 'Her health was very good before the war, but after the war, her condition began to deteriorate due to malnutrition. There is nothing to strengthen her.' That was on June 23. Razan had already been in hospital for 12 days. She clung on to life for another 27 days. Razan died amid growing starvation in Gaza, with the flow of humanitarian aid severely reduced since the beginning of March, when Israeli authorities banned convoys from entering Gaza. That ban was partially lifted at the end of May, but aid agencies say the amounts reaching the territory far too little to sustain the population. Israel said it was halting shipments of aid into Gaza because Hamas was stealing and profiting from it - an allegation Hamas denies. Israeli agencies also say the United Nations has not picked up aid ready to move into Gaza. The UN in turn has said that Israeli forces frequently deny permission to move aid within Gaza, and that much more is waiting to be allowed in. The Israeli agency that manages the flow of aid into the Gaza strip, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), said in a statement that the IDF is 'working to allow and facilitate the transfer' of humanitarian aid, including food. 'Since the beginning of the hostilities and up to this day, approximately 67,000 food trucks have entered the Gaza Strip, delivering around 1.5 million tons of food,' COGAT said. 'Israel will continue to facilitate the entry of food' into Gaza, COGAT said, 'while taking all possible measures to prevent the terrorist organization Hamas from seizing the aid.' Gaza was heavily dependent on aid and commercial shipments of food before the conflict began in October 2023, and shortages of food, medical supplies, fuel and other necessities have only worsened since. The scarcity of food since March has sent a rapidly growing number of people to already overwhelmed hospitals. 'Gaza is witnessing the worst phase of famine, which has reached catastrophic levels amid unprecedented international silence,' said Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, the spokesman for al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital on Sunday, where Razan died. Al-Daqran said the infants who were now dying had been robbed of their childhood twice, 'once by bombing and killing, and again by depriving them of milk and a piece of bread.' The health ministry said Saturday that an 'unprecedented number of starving citizens of all ages are arriving at emergency departments in severe states of exhaustion and fatigue.' 'Hundreds whose bodies have been severely weakened are now at risk of imminent death due to hunger and their bodies' inability to endure any longer,' the ministry added. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights – an NGO working in Gaza - reported Sunday that one of its team in Gaza had said: 'Our faces have changed and our bodies have wasted away. We no longer recognize each other from extreme emaciation, as if we are slowly fading away and dying.' Dr. Suhaib Al-Hams, director of Kuwait field hospital in Khan Younis, told CNN that people arriving there were in 'dire need of food before medicine, as their bodies have reached a point beyond endurance and are all at risk of death.' 'Today, the World Central Kitchen stopped sending meals for the medical staff, they used to send us only rice. Doctors are working 24 hours a day with no food, neither at home nor at the hospital. People are dying of hunger,' Al-Hams said Sunday. World Central Kitchen confirmed its Gaza teams had run out of ingredients to cook warm meals. 'We served 80,000 meals yesterday [Saturday], emptying the last of our replenished stocks while aid trucks remain stuck at the border. 'This is the second time lack of access to aid has forced our kitchen operations to pause,' it added. In their desperation, thousands of people risk their lives every day to find something to eat. More than 70 people were reported to have been killed Sunday in northern Gaza as they desperately sought food aid, according to the health ministry, which said they had been shot by Israeli troops. The Israel Defense Forces said troops in the area 'fired warning shots in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them. The IDF is aware of the claim regarding casualties in the area, and the details of the incident are still being examined.' 'An initial review suggests that the number of casualties reported does not align with the information held by the IDF,' it added. Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital where many of the casualties were taken, said that 'a significant number of civilians, and even medical staff, are arriving in a state of fainting or collapse due to severe malnutrition.' Nearly 800 Palestinians were killed while trying to access aid in Gaza between late May and July 7, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). During that period, OHCHR recorded the killings of 798 people, 615 of whom were killed near sites of the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). It added that 183 others were killed 'on the routes of aid convoys' without giving details on who had been running those convoys. Dozens more have been killed since, according to the health ministry, including more than 30 in southern Gaza on Saturday. Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, told the UN Security Council on Thursday that food was running out in Gaza. 'Those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed their families.' He said that starvation rates among children had reached their highest levels in June, with more than 5,800 girls and boys diagnosed as acutely malnourished. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday it was receiving 'deeply troubling reports of malnourished children and adults being admitted to hospitals with little resources available to treat them properly.' On Saturday, Sarmad Tamimy, a plastic surgeon volunteering with Medical Aid for Palestinians, told CNN: 'Honestly, I feel the lucky ones get killed immediately because [of] the horrible horrors that they're going to face with their extensive injuries, with inadequate nutrition, inadequate medical supplies, infections, maggots, [and] hospital-acquired infections.'
Arab News
10 hours ago
- Health
- Arab News
Children most affected by worsening malnutrition in Gaza Strip
NUSEIRAT: As malnutrition surges in war-torn Gaza, tens of thousands of children and women require urgent treatment, according to the UN, while aid enters the blockaded Palestinian territory at a trickle. Gaza's civil defense agency said it has noted a rising number of infant deaths caused by 'severe hunger and malnutrition,' reporting at least three such deaths in the past week. 'These heartbreaking cases were not caused by direct bombing but by starvation, the lack of baby formula and the absence of basic health care,' civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said. MSF said that patients at its Gaza clinics do not heal properly from their wounds due to protein deficiency. Ziad Musleh, a 45-year-old father displaced from Gaza's north to the central city of Nuseirat, said: 'We are dying, our children are dying and we can't do anything to stop it.' 'Our children cry and scream for food. They go to sleep in pain, in hunger, with empty stomachs. There is absolutely no food. 'And if by chance a small amount appears in the market, the prices are outrageous — no one can afford it.' At a food distribution site in a UN-school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat on Sunday, children entertained themselves by banging on their plates as they waited for their turn. Several of them had faces stretched thin by hunger, a journalist reported. Umm Sameh Abu Zeina, whose cheekbones protruded from her thin face as she waited for food in Nuseirat, said she had lost 35 kg. 'We do not eat enough. I don't eat, I leave the food I receive for my daughter,' she said, adding that she had a range of health conditions, including high blood pressure and diabetes. Gazans as well as the UN and aid organizations frequently complain that depleted stocks have sent prices skyrocketing for what little food is available in the markets. The UN's World Food Programme warned in early July that the price of flour for bread was 3,000 times more expensive than before the war began more than 21 months ago. WFP director Carl Skau, who visited Gaza City in early July, described the situation as 'the worst I've ever seen.' 'A father I met had lost 25 kg in the past two months. People are starving, while we have food just across the border,' he said. 'Our kitchens are empty; they are now serving hot water with a bit of pasta floating in it,' said Skau. The effects of malnutrition on children and pregnant women can be particularly dire.
