Latest news with #southernGaza
Sky News
24-07-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Inside Gaza's Nasser Hospital - where there's virtually no food for malnourished children
In Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, they have virtually nothing left to eat. Warning: This article contains images that some readers may find distressing Huda has lost half her body weight since March, when Israel shut the crossings into Gaza, and imposed a blockade. The 12-year-old knows she doesn't look well. "Before, I used to look like this," Huda says, pointing to a picture on her tablet. "The war changed me. Malnutrition has turned my hair yellow because I lack protein. You see here, this is how I was before the war." Her mother says her needs are simple: fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, maybe a little meat - but she won't find it here. Huda can only wish for a brighter future now. "Can you help me travel abroad for treatment? I want to be like you. I'm a child. I want to play and be like you," she says. Image: Huda wishes for a brighter future Amir's story Three-year-old Amir was sitting in a tent together with his mother, father and his grandparents when it was hit by projectiles. Medical staff carried out surgery on his intestines and were able to stop the bleeding - but they can't feed him properly. Instead, he's given dextrose, a mixture of sugar and water which has no nutritional value. Image: Amir's mother and siblings were killed in an attack that also left his father 'in a terrible state' Image: Medical staff performed surgery on three-year-old Amir - but can't feed him properly Amir's mother and his siblings were all killed in the attack and his father is no longer able to speak. "His father is in a terrible state and won't accept the reality. What did these children do? Tell me, what was their crime?" Amir's aunt says. The desperate scenes of hungry children in Gaza have not been caused by scarcity. There's plenty of food waiting at the crossings or held in warehouses within the territory. Israel claims the United Nations is failing to distribute it. Image: Amir's relative holds pictures of the toddler and his family before the war Both Israel and the US have taken charge of the food distribution, with the UN's hundreds of aid centres shut. Instead, the UN tries to organise convoys but says it can't obtain the necessary permits - and faces draconian restrictions on aid. Sometimes food is made available at communal kitchens called 'tikiya'. 'I want life to be how it was' Everyone is desperate for whatever they can get - and many leave with nothing. "It's been two months since we've eaten bread," one young girl says. "There's no food, there's no nutrition. I want life to go back to how it was, I want meat and flour to come in. I want the end of the tikiya." Read more: Gazan doctor held in 'inhumane' conditions Starvation 'knocking on every door' in Gaza Dr Adil Husain, an American doctor who spent two weeks at Nasser Hospital, treated a three-year-old called Hasan while he was there. Weighing just 6kg, Hasan should be 15kg at his age. "He needs special feeds, and these feeds are literally miles away. They're literally right there at the border, but it's being blockaded by the forces, they're not letting them in, so it's intentional and deliberate starvation," Dr Husain tells me. Follow The World Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday Tap to follow Hasan died two days after Dr Husain examined him. "It's just so distressing that this is something man-made, this is a man-made starvation, this is a man-made crisis," he says. Israel says it has not identified starvation, but this feels like a situation that is entirely preventable.
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
I'm witnessing the deliberate starvation of Gaza's children – why is the world letting it happen?
I'm writing this from Nasser hospital in southern Gaza, where I've just finished operating on another severely malnourished young teenager. A seven-month-old baby lies in our paediatric intensive care unit, so tiny and malnourished that I initially mistook her for a newborn. The phrase 'skin and bones' doesn't do justice to the way her body has been ravaged. She is literally wasting away before our eyes and, despite our best efforts, we are powerless to save her. We are witnessing deliberate starvation in Gaza right now. This is my third time in Gaza since December 2023 as a volunteer surgeon with Medical Aid for Palestinians. I experienced mass casualty events and raised the alarm about malnutrition back in January 2024. But nothing has prepared me for the sheer horror I'm witnessing now: the weaponisation of starvation against an entire population. The malnutrition crisis has become catastrophic since my last visit. Every day I watch patients deteriorate and die, not from their injuries, but because they are too malnourished to survive surgery. The surgical repairs that we carry out fall to pieces, patients get terrible infections, then they die. It is happening repeatedly, and it is heartbreaking to watch. Four babies have died in the last few weeks in this hospital – not from bombs or bullets, but from starvation. Families and staff do their best to try to bring in what they can, but there simply isn't enough food available in Gaza. For infants, we have virtually no baby formula. Children are being given 10% dextrose (sugar water), which has no nutritional value, and often their mothers are too malnourished to breastfeed. When an international colleague tried to bring baby formula into Gaza, Israeli authorities confiscated it. Benjamin Netanyahu's approach is twofold: block food from entering Gaza while leaving desperate civilians no choice but to visit militarised distribution points to receive some limited supplies. Until May, Gaza had more than 400 aid distribution sites where people could access food safely. Now there are just four of these militarised zones in the south where starving families are in constant danger of attack. I'm hearing about dozens of trauma casualties flooding Gaza's emergency departments daily – many of them with gunshot wounds from these militarised distribution points. I have operated on boys aged 12 to 15, whose relatives say they were shot while trying to get food for their families. Last week a 12-year-old died on the operating table, shot through the abdomen at what can only be described as a death trap for those seeking basic sustenance. My colleagues in the emergency department have also reported a disturbing pattern: injuries concentrated on specific body parts on different days – heads, legs, genitals – suggesting deliberate targeting of those body parts. In recent days, I operated on two women who were shot by quadcopters while sheltering in their tents near one of the locations, according to the people who brought them in. One was breastfeeding her child when she was hit; the second was pregnant. Thankfully, both have survived their injuries so far. These women weren't even seeking aid – they were simply sheltering in areas that are supposedly 'safe' but exposed to indiscriminate fire from the IDF's weaponised hunger apparatus. It is not just the patients here who are malnourished, but also healthcare workers. When I first arrived, I barely recognised colleagues I had worked with last year – some had lost 30kg. At lunchtime, some doctors and nurses head towards the distribution sites, knowing they risk death but having no choice if they want to feed their families. Nasser hospital is the last major functioning hospital in southern Gaza, but we're operating at breaking point, reeling from previous attacks and overwhelmed by mass casualties, all while facing shortages of everything. Netanyahu's systematic destruction of Gaza's healthcare system has funnelled desperate medical needs into this single facility while directly targeting healthcare workers and patients. Just this week, one of our dear theatre nurses was killed in his tent along with his three small children. I want to be clear – what is being done to Palestinians in Gaza is barbaric and entirely preventable. I cannot believe we have come to a point where the world is watching as the people of Gaza are forced to endure starvation and gunfire, all while food and medical aid sits across the border just miles away from them. The enforced malnutrition and attacks on civilians will kill thousands more if not stopped immediately. Every day of inaction means more children will die not just from bullets or bombs, but from hunger. A permanent ceasefire, the free and safe flow of aid through the UN-led system, and the lifting of the blockade are needed now – and all can be achieved with political will. The UK government's continued complicity in Israel's atrocities is unconscionable, and I do not want to spend another day operating on children who have been shot and starved by a military our government supports. History will judge not just those who committed these crimes, but those who stood by and watched. From inside Nasser hospital, I am telling you: this is deliberate. This is preventable. And this must stop now. Prof Nick Maynard is a consultant surgeon at Oxford university hospital who has been travelling regularly to Gaza for 15 years. He is volunteering with Medical Aid for Palestinians at Nasser hospital in Gaza Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site.
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
I'm witnessing the deliberate starvation of Gaza's children – why is the world letting it happen?
I'm writing this from Nasser hospital in southern Gaza, where I've just finished operating on another severely malnourished young teenager. A seven-month-old baby lies in our paediatric intensive care unit, so tiny and malnourished that I initially mistook her for a newborn. The phrase 'skin and bones' doesn't do justice to the way her body has been ravaged. She is literally wasting away before our eyes and, despite our best efforts, we are powerless to save her. We are witnessing deliberate starvation in Gaza right now. This is my third time in Gaza since December 2023 as a volunteer surgeon with Medical Aid for Palestinians. I experienced mass casualty events and raised the alarm about malnutrition back in January 2024. But nothing has prepared me for the sheer horror I'm witnessing now: the weaponisation of starvation against an entire population. The malnutrition crisis has become catastrophic since my last visit. Every day I watch patients deteriorate and die, not from their injuries, but because they are too malnourished to survive surgery. The surgical repairs that we carry out fall to pieces, patients get terrible infections, then they die. It is happening repeatedly, and it is heartbreaking to watch. Four babies have died in the last few weeks in this hospital – not from bombs or bullets, but from starvation. Families and staff do their best to try to bring in what they can, but there simply isn't enough food available in Gaza. For infants, we have virtually no baby formula. Children are being given 10% dextrose (sugar water), which has no nutritional value, and often their mothers are too malnourished to breastfeed. When an international colleague tried to bring baby formula into Gaza, Israeli authorities confiscated it. Benjamin Netanyahu's approach is twofold: block food from entering Gaza while leaving desperate civilians no choice but to visit militarised distribution points to receive some limited supplies. Until May, Gaza had more than 400 aid distribution sites where people could access food safely. Now there are just four of these militarised zones in the south where starving families are in constant danger of attack. I'm hearing about dozens of trauma casualties flooding Gaza's emergency departments daily – many of them with gunshot wounds from these militarised distribution points. I have operated on boys aged 12 to 15, whose relatives say they were shot while trying to get food for their families. Last week a 12-year-old died on the operating table, shot through the abdomen at what can only be described as a death trap for those seeking basic sustenance. My colleagues in the emergency department have also reported a disturbing pattern: injuries concentrated on specific body parts on different days – heads, legs, genitals – suggesting deliberate targeting of those body parts. In recent days, I operated on two women who were shot by quadcopters while sheltering in their tents near one of the locations, according to the people who brought them in. One was breastfeeding her child when she was hit; the second was pregnant. Thankfully, both have survived their injuries so far. These women weren't even seeking aid – they were simply sheltering in areas that are supposedly 'safe' but exposed to indiscriminate fire from the IDF's weaponised hunger apparatus. It is not just the patients here who are malnourished, but also healthcare workers. When I first arrived, I barely recognised colleagues I had worked with last year – some had lost 30kg. At lunchtime, some doctors and nurses head towards the distribution sites, knowing they risk death but having no choice if they want to feed their families. Nasser hospital is the last major functioning hospital in southern Gaza, but we're operating at breaking point, reeling from previous attacks and overwhelmed by mass casualties, all while facing shortages of everything. Netanyahu's systematic destruction of Gaza's healthcare system has funnelled desperate medical needs into this single facility while directly targeting healthcare workers and patients. Just this week, one of our dear theatre nurses was killed in his tent along with his three small children. I want to be clear – what is being done to Palestinians in Gaza is barbaric and entirely preventable. I cannot believe we have come to a point where the world is watching as the people of Gaza are forced to endure starvation and gunfire, all while food and medical aid sits across the border just miles away from them. The enforced malnutrition and attacks on civilians will kill thousands more if not stopped immediately. Every day of inaction means more children will die not just from bullets or bombs, but from hunger. A permanent ceasefire, the free and safe flow of aid through the UN-led system, and the lifting of the blockade are needed now – and all can be achieved with political will. The UK government's continued complicity in Israel's atrocities is unconscionable, and I do not want to spend another day operating on children who have been shot and starved by a military our government supports. History will judge not just those who committed these crimes, but those who stood by and watched. From inside Nasser hospital, I am telling you: this is deliberate. This is preventable. And this must stop now. Prof Nick Maynard is a consultant surgeon at Oxford university hospital who has been travelling regularly to Gaza for 15 years. He is volunteering with Medical Aid for Palestinians at Nasser hospital in Gaza
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Video shows shots fired near Gaza aid hub, and unpacking US-Ukraine weapons deal
Update: Date: 10:03 BST Title: Where and when were shots fired close to an aid site in southern Gaza? Content: Emma Pengelly, Sherie Ryder and Alex MurrayBBC Verify A screengrab taken from the verified video shows sand being kicked up by the bullets We've verified footage that has been circulating on social media showing shots being fired near crowds of people waiting for aid in southern Gaza. Having received the footage and from speaking to two journalists in Gaza we understand the incident took place on Saturday 12 July. We've also seen a post from an eyewitness, external on Instagram. Based on the pylons seen in the footage and having looked at previous clips around aid distribution centres we could confirm the video was filmed close to one of the safe routes into aid hub run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Using other forensic techniques - which we'll explain in another live page post - we can place this incident near the GHF's Secure Distribution Site 2. In the video you can see clouds of sand being kicked up by the impact of the bullets being fired. There have been reports of some killings on Saturday, but it is not clear if any of these were a result of the shots captured in the video. Nasser hospital in southern Gaza confirmed 24 people were killed near an aid distribution site. The GHF has denied that the incident took place near their site. Update: Date: 09:33 BST Title: What we're working on today Content: Rob CorpBBC Verify Live editor Good morning from BBC Verify Live. Our fact-checkers, data journalists and verification specialists are working on these stories today: All that to come - and ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves' big speech on the economy in the City of London later we'll be looking into how many millionaires and billionaires have left the UK since Labour came to power.
RNZ News
08-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Israel plans to hold Gazan population in ‘humanitarian city' on ruins of Rafah, Israeli media reports
By Dana Karni, Mostafa Salem and Oren Liebermann , CNN Displaced Palestinians carry the humanitarian aid they have received from a United Nations distribution point in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip on May 27, 2025. Photo: AFP/SAEED JARAS Israel's defence minister said he told the military to advance plans for what he called a "humanitarian city" built on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to reports in Israeli media. In a briefing to reporters on Monday (local time), Israel Katz said the zone would initially house some 600,000 displaced Palestinians who have been forced to evacuate to the Al-Mawasi area along the coast of southern Gaza, multiple outlets who attended in the briefing reported. Palestinians who enter the zone will go through a screening to check that they are not members of Hamas. They will not be allowed to leave, Katz said, according to Israeli media. Eventually, the defence minister said the entire population of Gaza - more than 2 million Palestinians - will be held in the zone. Katz then vowed that Israel would implement a plan, first floated by US President Donald Trump, to allow Palestinians to emigrate from Gaza to other countries. A Palestinian child looks on as smoke billows in the distance during Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 11 June 2025. Photo: AFP Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have eagerly supported the emigration plan, despite no country publicly expressing any willingness to take part. At a White House dinner with Trump on Monday, Netanyahu said, "We're working with the United States very closely about finding countries that will seek to realise what they always said, that they want to give the Palestinians a better future, and I think we're getting close to finding several countries." Katz said the zone for displaced Palestinians will be run by international bodies, not the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Israeli media reported. The IDF would secure the zone from a distance, Katz said, in a plan that appears to imitate the aid distribution mechanism of the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). GHF operates the distribution sites, but the IDF surrounds them militarily. It's unclear what bodies would agree to participate in Katz's plan, especially since most international organisations refuse to take part in GHF's distribution sites due to serious concerns about impartiality and the safety of the Palestinian population. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to approach the distribution sites since they began operating a month ago, according to health officials in Gaza and the United Nations. A spokesperson for Katz has not responded to repeated requests for comment. Asked about the plan at a press conference on Tuesday evening, IDF spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said the military "will present several options to the political echelon". "Every option has its implications. We will act according to the directives of the political echelon," Defrin added. On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK opposes the new plan, just as it opposed GHF. "I'm surprised at the statements that I've seen from Mr Katz over the last 24 hours," Lammy told a parliamentary committee. "They run contra to the proximity to a ceasefire that I thought we were heading towards." Lammy added that he does not recognise the plan "as a serious context in which the people of Gaza can get the aid and support that they need at this time". In a statement on Tuesday, Hamas said that Israel's "persistent efforts to forcibly displace our people and impose ethnic cleansing have met with legendary resilience. Our people have stood firm in the face of killing, hunger, and bombardment, rejecting any future dictated from intelligence headquarters or political bargaining tables". Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, said Katz's plan amounts to the forcible transfer of a population in preparation for deportation. Both of these are war crimes, Sfard told CNN. "If they are done on a massive scale - whole communities - they can amount to war crimes," Sfard said, dismissing the notion that any departure from Gaza could be considered voluntary. "There is no consensual departure. There is no voluntary departure. People will flee from Gaza because Israel is mounting on them coercive measures that would make their life in Gaza impossible," he said. "Under international law, you don't have to load people on trucks at gunpoint in order to commit the crime of deportation." A senior diplomat from the United Arab Emirates, considered one of the key countries in any plan for post-war Gaza, said removing Palestinians from the enclave would be unacceptable. "The UAE has publicly and categorically rejected the forced displacement of Palestinians…our public position and our private position is that we reject the forced dislocation of any Palestinians from the territory now to rebuild Gaza," Lana Nusseibeh told CNN. Qatar, which is now hosting proximity talks between Israel and Hamas, also rejected the deportation of Gaza's population. "We have said very clearly we are against any forced relocation of Palestinians, or any relocation of Palestinians outside their land," Majed Al Ansari, spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday. -CNN
