Oxfam: 'It's an engineered starvation campaign against civilians, women and children, in Gaza Strip'
28/07/2025
Gaza: Humanitarian aid starts trickling in after a four-month blockade
Middle East
27/07/2025
Israel announces daily pauses in Gaza fighting as aid airdrops begin
Middle East
27/07/2025
Gaza: Israel announces daily 10-hour pauses aimed at facilitating humanitarian aid
Middle East
27/07/2025
Israel says opening routes into Gaza to increase food aid
Middle East
27/07/2025
Gaza: Aid begins trickling in as Palestinians starve
Middle East
26/07/2025
Ziad Rahbani, the voice a wounded Lebanon, dies at 69
Middle East
26/07/2025
Starvation crisis deepens in Gaza: are aidrops really the solution?
Middle East
26/07/2025
Gaza aid airdrops spark criticism, as starvation deepens in the Strip
Middle East
26/07/2025
Gaza: Protesters across the world demand aid access to the Strip
Middle East
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Amount of aid entering Gaza is 'very insufficient', Germany says
The amount of aid entering Gaza remains "very insufficient" despite a limited improvement, the German government said on Saturday after ministers discussed ways to heighten pressure on Israel. The criticism came after Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visited the region on Thursday and Friday and the German military staged its first food airdrops into Gaza, where aid agencies say that more than two million Palestinians are facing starvation due to Israel's severe restrictions on the amount of food entering the besieged territory. Germany"notes limited initial progress in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip, which, however, remains very insufficient to alleviate the emergency situation", government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in a statement. "Israel remains obligated to ensure the full delivery of aid," Kornelius added. 'We can't even find a loaf of bread': Desperation is taking hold in Gaza 02:03 Israel enforced a complete blockade on food and other supplies for two-and-a-half months beginning in March. Though the flow of aid resumed in May under mounting international outrage, the amount that Israel is letting into the besieged territory is a fraction of what aid organisations say is needed. The United Nations has said that 6,000 trucks are awaiting permission from Israel to enter the occupied Palestinian territory. Seven Palestinians died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said on Saturday. They include a child, it said in a statement, bringing total deaths among children from causes related to malnutrition in Gaza to 93 since the war began. The ministry said 76 adults in Gaza have died of malnutrition-related causes since late June, when it started counting deaths among adults. The German government, traditionally a strong supporter of Israel, also expressed "concern regarding reports that large quantities of humanitarian aid are being withheld by Hamas and criminal organisations". Although Israel has alleged that much of the aid arriving in the territory is being siphoned off by Hamas, which runs Gaza, the UN has repeatedly rejected these claims. An internal US government analysis seen by Reuters found no evidence of systematic theft by the Palestinian militant group of US-funded humanitarian supplies, and Israeli military officials have told the New York Times that they had no evidence to substantiate these allegations. The Israeli army is accused of having equipped Palestinian criminal networks in its fight against Hamas and of allowing them to plunder aid deliveries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly confirmed that Israel has armed and abetted local groups in Gaza to fight against Hamas. "The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces," Jonathan Whittall of OCHA, the United Nations agency for co-ordinating humanitarian affairs, told reporters in May. US envoy visits aid site in Gaza: 'This was a public relations visit', analyst says 07:31 A German government source told AFP it had noted that Israel has "considerably" increased the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza to about 220 a day. Berlin has taken a tougher line against Israel's actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in recent weeks. The source said that a German security cabinet meeting on Saturday discussed "the different options" for putting pressure on Israel, but no decision was taken. A partial suspension of arms deliveries to Israel is one option that has been raised.
Euronews
4 hours ago
- Euronews
Planes drop aid into Gaza as Israeli fire reportedly kills at least 18
Planes dropped aid from European countries and beyond into Gaza on Saturday, though both aid groups and Palestinians say changes have been only incremental. The aid comes from a coalition of Jordan-led nations, including Germany, France and Spain. To circumvent restrictions on aid trucks crossing overland into Gaza, they have orchestrated parcels being dropped from the skies. French President Emmanuel Macron said that the first French aid drop of several tonnes of food was carried out on Friday and that more would continue over the weekend. Spain reportedly dropped 12 tonnes of aid deployed in 24 parachutes. This is enough for around 11,000 people, according to Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares. Germany said 14 tonnes of food and medical aid was dropped off by plane, but German Foreign Minister Johan Wadephul said that 'sufficient quantities of relief supplies can only be provided to the people by land.' Both Italy and the Netherlands are set to begin airdropping aid into Gaza next week, according to the country's governments. 'We expect Israel to do more to enable humanitarian aid via land routes and to fully honour its humanitarian agreements with the EU,' Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp told the Dutch parliament. 'The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza must end.' Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he had given the green light to military forces for the 'transport and airdrop of basic necessities to civilians in Gaza, who have been severely affected by the ongoing conflict.' Hunger has grown in Gaza during the past 22 months of war between Israel and Hamas because of aid restrictions, humanitarian workers warn. Experts say the 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza.' Israel enforced a complete blockade on food and other supplies for two and a half months beginning in March. It said its objective was to increase pressure on Hamas to release dozens of hostages it has held since its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Though the flow of aid resumed in May, the amount is a fraction of what aid organizations say is needed. Situation on the ground At least 18 people were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza on Saturday, according to local hospitals. Eight of these people were reportedly aid seekers. Near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) 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. '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 group's efforts to deliver aid to Gaza has been marred by violence and controversy. However, Israel and the GHF have said they have only fired warning shots and that the death toll of aid seekers has been exaggerated. An Israeli strike also hit a family house in an area between the towns of Zawaida and Deir al-Balah, killing two parents and their three children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. 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. Israel's military did not immediately respond to questions about the strikes or deaths near the aid sites. Hostage's families protest to end war Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and their supporters protested in Tel Aviv and urged their government to push harder for the release of their loved ones. US President Donald Trump's special envoy to the region Steve Witkoff joined them a day after visiting Gaza. 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. The war began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians. A subsequent Israeli offensive has to date killed over 60,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry whose figure does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The Israeli military says almost 900 of its soldiers have died since the start of the war.
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
US envoy meets Israeli hostage families in Tel Aviv
Witkoff was greeted with some applause and pleas for assistance from hundreds of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv, before going into a closed meeting with the families. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum confirmed the meeting was underway and videos shared online showed Witkoff arriving as families chanted "Bring them home!" and "We need your help." The visit came one day after Witkoff visited a US-backed aid station in Gaza, to inspect efforts to get food into the devastated Palestinian territory. Yotam Cohen, brother of 21-year-old hostage Nimrod Cohen, told AFP in the square: "The war needs to end. The Israeli government will not end it willingly. It has refused to do so. "The Israeli government must be stopped. For our sakes, for our soldiers' sakes, for our hostages' sakes, for our sons and for the future generations of everybody in the Middle East." After the meeting, the Forum released a statement saying that Witkoff had given them a personal commitment that he and US President Donald Trump would work to return the remaining hostages. The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, had been mediating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that would allow the hostages to be released and humanitarian aid to flow more freely. But talks broke down last month and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is under increasing domestic pressure to come up with another way to secure the missing hostages, alive and dead. He is also facing international calls to open Gaza's borders to more food aid, after UN and humanitarian agencies warned that more than two million Palestinian civilians are facing starvation. 'Without rest' But Israel's top general warned that there would be no respite in fighting in Gaza if the hostages were not released. "I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages," said army chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, according to a military statement. "If not, the combat will continue without rest," he said, during remarks to officers inside Gaza on Friday. Of the 251 people who were kidnapped from Israel during Hamas's attack in October 2023, 49 remain in Gaza, 27 of them dead, according to the military. Palestinian armed groups this week released two videos of hostages looking emaciated and weak. Zamir denied that there was widespread starvation in Gaza. "The current campaign of false accusations of intentional starvation is a deliberate, timed, and deceitful attempt to accuse the IDF (Israeli military), a moral army, of war crimes," he said. "The ones responsible for the killing and suffering of the residents in the Gaza Strip is Hamas." Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. A total of 898 Israeli soldiers have also been killed, according to the military. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,332 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN. Civilian deaths Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed 21 people in the territory on Saturday. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said two people were killed and another 26 injured after an Israeli strike on a central Gaza area where Palestinians had gathered before a food distribution point run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). He added that Saturday's bombings mostly targeted the areas near the southern city of Khan Yunis and Gaza City in the north. Witkoff visited another GHF site for five hours on Friday, promising that Trump would come up with a plan to better feed civilians. Adnan Abu Hasna, of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told AFP that the agency had "approximately 6,000 trucks ready for the Gaza Strip, but the crossings are closed by political decision. There are five land crossings into the Strip through which 1,000 trucks can enter daily." The UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories on Friday said at least 1,373 Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza had been killed since May 27, most of them by the Israeli military. Israel's military insist that soldiers never deliberately target civilians and accuses Hamas fighters of looting UN and humanitarian aid trucks.
