Gaza death toll mounts amid humanitarian crisis
The statement noted that at least 39 people were killed and 849 wounded while attempting to access humanitarian aid in the past 24 hours alone. Since the start of the conflict, the number of those killed while seeking food or aid — referred to as 'living martyrs' — has reached 1,422, with over 10,000 others injured in such incidents. Authorities warned that Gaza is facing an escalating humanitarian
catastrophe due to the ongoing blockade and acute shortages of food and medical supplies. They called on the international community and relief agencies to take immediate and urgent action to prevent further loss of life.
US envoy visits Gaza as death toll rises near aid sites
Amid the worsening crisis, US special envoy Steve Witkoff visited a US-backed distribution centre inside Gaza on Friday and pledged to develop a new plan to expand food deliveries to the embattled territory. The visit came in response to mounting reports of violence near aid points, where, according to the United Nations, Zionist forces have killed at least 1,373 Palestinians seeking humanitarian assistance since May 27 — including 105 in the final two days of July.
The UN's human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territories said 859 of those fatalities occurred near distribution sites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), with another 514 killed along aid convoy routes. Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the situation as 'regular bloodbaths,' accusing Zionist forces of using starvation as a weapon of war.
'(Zionist) forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families,' said Belkis Wille, HRW's associate crisis and conflict director. Witkoff, who spent over five hours inside Gaza, said his visit aimed to help former US President Donald Trump craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to Gaza. In a phone interview with US media, Trump said, 'We want to help people. We want to help them live. We want to get people fed. It is something that should have happened a long time ago.'
The GHF, established in May with US support, was intended to supplement the longstanding UN-led aid system, but its operations have drawn criticism for militarising aid distribution. The foundation reported delivering its 100-millionth meal during the visit by Witkoff and former US Governor Mike Huckabee.
Gaza's civil defense reported that 22 people were killed on Friday alone by gunfire and airstrikes, including eight who had been waiting to collect food aid. The military, responding to the accusations, said troops operate near aid distribution sites 'to enable the orderly delivery of food' while minimizing friction with civilians. It also alleged that Hamas has been interfering with aid distribution and confirmed that a review of the reported deaths is underway.
International pressure
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with Witkoff on Thursday and later met with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who warned that 'the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination,' urging Zionists to facilitate aid delivery to prevent mass starvation. An investigative report by the BBC on Friday said more than 160 children have been shot during the conflict, with at least 95 sustaining head or chest wounds. Responding to the report, the army said that 'intentional harm to civilians, and especially children, is strictly prohibited' under international law and military rules of engagement.
No pause in fighting
Zionist army chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said Friday that fighting will continue 'without rest' if negotiations to secure the release of hostages do not yield results soon. Talks mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar stalled last month, amid growing domestic and international pressure to reach a ceasefire. The nearly 10-month conflict has left tens of thousands dead, many more wounded, and millions displaced — with Gaza's population facing acute food insecurity and a looming risk of widespread famine.- Agencies
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Kuwait Times
5 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Death toll mounts as Gazans starve
CAIRO: At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Zionist gunfire and airstrikes on Gaza on Monday, including 10 seeking aid, health authorities said, adding another five had died of starvation in what humanitarian agencies warn may be an unfolding famine. The 10 died in two separate incidents near aid sites belonging to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in central and southern Gaza, local medics said. The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Zionist forces operating near GHF sites. 'Everyone who goes there, comes back either with a bag of flour or carried back (on a wooden stretcher) as a martyr, or injured. No one comes back safe,' said 40-year-old Palestinian Bilal Thari. He was among mourners at Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital on Monday who had gathered to collect the bodies of their loved ones killed a day earlier by Zionist fire as they sought aid, according to Gaza's health officials. At least 13 Palestinians were killed on Sunday while waiting for the arrival of UN aid trucks at the Zikim crossing on the border with the northern Gaza Strip, the officials added. At the hospital, some bodies were wrapped in thick patterned blankets because white shrouds, which hold special significance in Islamic burials, were in short supply due to continued border restrictions and the mounting number of daily deaths, Palestinians said. 'We don't want war, we want peace, we want this misery to end. We are out on the streets, we all are hungry, we are all in bad shape, women are out there on the streets, we have nothing available for us to live a normal life like all human beings, there's no life,' Thari told Reuters. There was no immediate comment by Zionist entity on the incidents of shootings on Sunday and Monday. Zionist entity blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza and says it is taking steps for more aid to reach its population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, air drops, and announcing protected routes for aid convoys. Deaths from hunger Meanwhile, five more people died of starvation or malnutrition over the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said on Monday. The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from hunger to 180, including 93 children, since the war began. UN agencies have said that airdrops of food are insufficient and that Zionists must let in far more aid by land and quickly ease access to it. COGAT, the Zionist military agency that coordinates aid, said that during the past week, over 23,000 tons of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds of the trucks had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by UN and other international organizations. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Sunday that more than 600 aid trucks had arrived since Zionists eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs. Palestinian and UN officials said Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements -the number Zionit entity used to allow into Gaza before the war. - Reuters
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
Gaza death toll mounts amid humanitarian crisis
GAZA: Health authorities in the Gaza Strip announced Saturday that 98 Palestinians were killed and 1,079 others injured in the past 24 hours as a result of ongoing Zionist military operations, bringing the overall toll to 60,430 deaths and 148,722 injuries since the war began on October 7, 2023. In a press statement, the authorities said that famine-related deaths have climbed to 169, including 93 children. The latest figures include seven fatalities recorded in hospitals due to malnutrition and hunger, as the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. The statement noted that at least 39 people were killed and 849 wounded while attempting to access humanitarian aid in the past 24 hours alone. Since the start of the conflict, the number of those killed while seeking food or aid — referred to as 'living martyrs' — has reached 1,422, with over 10,000 others injured in such incidents. Authorities warned that Gaza is facing an escalating humanitarian catastrophe due to the ongoing blockade and acute shortages of food and medical supplies. They called on the international community and relief agencies to take immediate and urgent action to prevent further loss of life. US envoy visits Gaza as death toll rises near aid sites Amid the worsening crisis, US special envoy Steve Witkoff visited a US-backed distribution centre inside Gaza on Friday and pledged to develop a new plan to expand food deliveries to the embattled territory. The visit came in response to mounting reports of violence near aid points, where, according to the United Nations, Zionist forces have killed at least 1,373 Palestinians seeking humanitarian assistance since May 27 — including 105 in the final two days of July. The UN's human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territories said 859 of those fatalities occurred near distribution sites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), with another 514 killed along aid convoy routes. Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the situation as 'regular bloodbaths,' accusing Zionist forces of using starvation as a weapon of war. '(Zionist) forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families,' said Belkis Wille, HRW's associate crisis and conflict director. Witkoff, who spent over five hours inside Gaza, said his visit aimed to help former US President Donald Trump craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to Gaza. In a phone interview with US media, Trump said, 'We want to help people. We want to help them live. We want to get people fed. It is something that should have happened a long time ago.' The GHF, established in May with US support, was intended to supplement the longstanding UN-led aid system, but its operations have drawn criticism for militarising aid distribution. The foundation reported delivering its 100-millionth meal during the visit by Witkoff and former US Governor Mike Huckabee. Gaza's civil defense reported that 22 people were killed on Friday alone by gunfire and airstrikes, including eight who had been waiting to collect food aid. The military, responding to the accusations, said troops operate near aid distribution sites 'to enable the orderly delivery of food' while minimizing friction with civilians. It also alleged that Hamas has been interfering with aid distribution and confirmed that a review of the reported deaths is underway. International pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with Witkoff on Thursday and later met with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who warned that 'the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination,' urging Zionists to facilitate aid delivery to prevent mass starvation. An investigative report by the BBC on Friday said more than 160 children have been shot during the conflict, with at least 95 sustaining head or chest wounds. Responding to the report, the army said that 'intentional harm to civilians, and especially children, is strictly prohibited' under international law and military rules of engagement. No pause in fighting Zionist army chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said Friday that fighting will continue 'without rest' if negotiations to secure the release of hostages do not yield results soon. Talks mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar stalled last month, amid growing domestic and international pressure to reach a ceasefire. The nearly 10-month conflict has left tens of thousands dead, many more wounded, and millions displaced — with Gaza's population facing acute food insecurity and a looming risk of widespread famine.- Agencies
Kuwait Times
4 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Gaza disaster reminiscent of Ethiopia, Biafra famines: UN
'Situation is dire for women and girls and children are starving to death' GENEVA: The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is reminiscent of last century's famines in Ethiopia and Nigeria's Biafra region which jointly claimed over two million lives, the UN food agency warned Tuesday. The World Food Programme joined warnings that famine is underway in the Gaza Strip. 'This is unlike anything we have seen in this century,' WFP emergency director Ross Smith told reporters in Geneva. 'It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century,' he said, speaking from Rome. Ethiopia's 1983-84 famine killed more than one million people and the famine resulting from the 1967-1970 Biafra war also contributed to over a million deaths. Smith's comments came after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) warned Tuesday that 'the worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip'. The IPC, a UN-backed group of organizations used as a monitor to gauge malnutrition, said 'immediate, unimpeded' humanitarian access into Gaza was needed to stop more 'starvation and death'. Zionist entity imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2 after ceasefire talks broke down. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume, amid warnings of a wave of starvation. GAZA/ATHENS: A protestor holds as a prop of a wrapped dead baby during a protest in support of Palestinians and calling against the ongoing food shortages in the Gaza Strip, in Athens. -- AFP photos The IPC said its latest data shows that 'famine thresholds' have been reached in 'most of the Gaza Strip'. Its alert does not yet amount to an official new famine classification. But Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP's food security and nutrition analysis director, said it was clear that 'indicators have gotten dramatically worse' since the IPC officially warned in May of a 'risk of famine' in Gaza. He cautioned that 'food consumption and nutrition indicators have now reached their worst level since the start of the conflict', which erupted after Hamas's deadly attack inside Zionist entity on October 7, 2023. 'In July, for the first time since the start of the crisis, malnutrition levels have exceeded the famine threshold in Gaza City,' he said. 'What we're seeing is mounting evidence that a famine is there,' he said, urging 'immediate action ... to avert massive human suffering'. The situation is particularly dire for women and girls, the UN Women agency warned, saying they 'are facing the impossible choice of starving to death at their shelters, or venturing out in search of food and water at extreme risk of being killed'. 'Children are starving to death before their eyes,' spokeswoman Sofia Calltorp said. Over the weekend, Zionist entity declared a 'tactical pause' in army operations in parts of Gaza, saying more than 120 truckloads of food were allowed in, with some countries—such as Jordan and the UAE—air-dropping food into the besieged Palestinian territory. But Smith stressed that far less aid can be brought in by air than by truck, while air-drops risk falling on people in densely-populated Gaza. 'It carries extreme risk for populations,' he said, warning that there were already reports of injuries. 'We do have that practical solution waiting, ready at the borders of Gaza at the crossing points and ready to move,' he said. – AFP
