UN Humanitarian Chief Says Conditions in Gaza are ‘Beyond Vocabulary'
"Civilians are exposed to death and injury, forcible displacement, stripped of dignity,' Fletcher told the UN Security Council, emphasizing Israel's obligation under the Geneva Conventions to provide food and medical aid as the occupying power in Gaza.
He also challenged the council to consider whether Israel's rules of engagement incorporate all the precautions to avoid and minimize civilian casualties.
Twenty Palestinians were killed at a food distribution center run by an Israeli-backed American organization in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, mostly from being trampled, the group said. They were the first deaths reported at one of the Gaza Humanitarian Fund sites, although hundreds have been killed by Israeli forces on the roads leading to them, according to witnesses and health officials.
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 54 others, including 14 children, according to hospital officials.
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Saudi Gazette
5 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Israeli forces kill 67 Palestinians seeking aid in northern Gaza, Hamas-run ministry says
JERUSALEM — 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 IDF has conducted air strikes in the area, but it has not yet deployed ground 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 affected neighbourhoods of Deir al-Balah are crowded with displaced people living in 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 least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to still be 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 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 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 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. — BBC
Arab News
13 hours ago
- 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.
Al Arabiya
18 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Israel fire kills dozens more aid seekers in Gaza, medics say, as hunger worsens
At least 67 people were killed by Israeli fire while they waited for UN aid trucks in northern Gaza on Sunday, the territory's health ministry said, as Israel issued new evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced Gazans, some of whom began to leave. The ministry said dozens of people were also wounded in the incident in northern Gaza, in one of the highest reported tolls among repeated recent cases in which aid seekers have been killed, including 36 on Saturday. Six other people were killed near another aid site in the south, it said. The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands in northern Gaza on Sunday to remove what it said was 'an immediate threat.' It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it 'certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks.' It did not immediately comment on the incident in the south. In total, health authorities said 88 people had been killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes across Gaza on Sunday. After Israel's military dropped leaflets urging people to evacuate from neighborhoods in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah, residents said Israeli planes struck three houses in the area. Dozens of families began leaving their homes, carrying some of their belongings. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans have been sheltering in the Deir al-Balah area. Israel's military said it had not entered the districts subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing 'to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area.' Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out 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. Hostage families demanded an explanation from the army. 'Can anyone (promise) to us that this decision will not come at the cost of losing our loved ones?' the families said in a statement. Starvation Much of Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland during more than 21 months of war and there are fears of accelerating starvation. Palestinian health officials said hundreds of people could soon die as hospitals were inundated with patients suffering from dizziness and exhaustion due to the scarcity of food and a collapse in aid deliveries. 'We warn that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger,' the health ministry said. The United Nations also said on Sunday that civilians were starving and needed an urgent influx of aid. Residents said it was becoming impossible to find essential food such as flour. The Gaza health ministry said at least 71 children had died of malnutrition during the war, and 60,000 others were suffering from symptoms of malnutrition. Later on Sunday, it said 18 people have died of hunger in the past 24 hours. Food prices have increased well beyond what most of the population of more than two million can afford. Several people who spoke to Reuters via chat apps said they either had one meal or no meal in the past 24 hours. 'As a father, I wake up in the early morning to look for food, for even a loaf of bread for my five children, but all in vain,' said Ziad, a nurse. 'People who didn't die of bombs will die of hunger. We want an end to this war now, a truce, even for two months,' he told Reuters. Others said they felt dizzy walking in the streets and that many fainted as they walked. Fathers leave tents to avoid questions by their children about what to eat. UNRWA, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, demanded Israel allow more aid trucks into Gaza, saying it had enough food for the entire population for over three months which was not allowed in. Israel's military said that it 'views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in coordination with the international community.' Truce talks Some Palestinians suggested the move on Deir al-Balah might be an attempt to put pressure on Hamas to make more concessions in long-running ceasefire negotiations. Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 58,000 Palestinians according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
