
Gazans lash out at U. S. -run aid distribution sites amid Israel's onslaught; ‘this is a death trap…'
Published on Jun 27, 2025 03:43 PM IST
Gazans, on June 26, said they have been visiting U.S.-run aid distribution sites. Gazans claimed they only get leftover food or nothing at all despite daily efforts. Visuals from Netzarim site showed scores of people carrying flour bags amid rubble. Watch.

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Scoop
5 hours ago
- Scoop
Gaza: Health System Crumbles Amid Growing Desperation Over Food, Fuel
'Definitely, people get shot,' said Gaza-based medic Dr. Luca Pigozzi, WHO Emergency Medical Team Coordinator. 'They are victim of blast injuries as well and bodily injuries.' The WHO official's comments follow reports of another mass casualty incident on Thursday, this time involving a strike on a market in the central city of Deir al Balah. More than 20 people were killed and approximately 70 others were injured, said the UN aid wing, OCHA, with victims rushed to Al Aqsa Hospital, Nasser Medical Complex and two other health facilities. Hundreds killed seeking food In addition to the latest deadly incident, at least 410 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to fetch aid from controversial non-UN aid hubs supported by Israel and the United States, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday. Providing high-quality medical care is very difficult in the war-torn occupied enclave today, 'particularly because we are speaking about a high volume of patients every time', Dr Pigozzi insisted. Health needs are widespread and dramatic, with almost 50 per cent of medical stocks completely depleted. WHO's first medical shipment into Gaza on Wednesday was its first since 2 March, when Israel imposed a full blockade on the Strip. In total, nine trucks carrying essential medical supplies entered the enclave with 2,000 units of blood and 1,500 units of plasma; all transited through the Kerem Shalom crossing. It is 'only a drop in the ocean' of what is required, Dr Pigozzi said. Aid obstacles remain Speaking to journalists from Jerusalem, WHO's Dr Rik Peeperkorn highlighted renewed difficulties in securing agreement from the Israeli authorities to allow more UN and partner agencies' supply trucks into Gaza. 'That's really unfortunate and should not happen, because you don't want to see those desperate people, and specifically desperate young men, risking their lives to get some food either,' he said, amid reports of a chaotic rush for supplies at non-UN distribution points and of starving Gazans taking goods directly off lorries. Before the Israeli blockade, the UN and its humanitarian partners demonstrated that their aid delivery system reached those most in need, insisted Dr Peeperkorn, WHO Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory. Today that is not the case because of repeated refusals by Israeli authorities to allow supplies into Gaza. 'Open the routes and make sure that we can get our supplies in,' he said. 'The market needs to be flooded with food and non-food items and water, et cetera, et cetera, and including essential medicines in a most cost-effective manner.' Denied entry Since March, aid teams have encountered a 44 per cent denial rate, meaning that for every 10 staff requesting entry, 'four to five of them are denied per rotation', WHO's Dr Pigozzi said. Echoing that message, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier insisted that people are starving, sick and dying across Gaza every day. 'They have been killed on the way trying to get medical help, they have been killed inside hospitals. Now, additionally, they are being killed on the way to get food items which are scarcely being provided,' he said. 'We have food and medical help minutes away across the border, sitting there and waiting for weeks and months by now. Just open the door.'

The National
5 hours ago
- The National
Keir Starmer urged to open visa scheme for Gaza citizens
Dozens of Westminster parliamentarians wrote to the Prime Minister over the issue, including two SNP MPs. Sky News reports that 67 MPs and Lords from across the political spectrum asked Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to create a 'Gaza Family scheme'. They argued it should be set up to "reunite [Palestinians] with their loved ones in the UK until it is safe to return". READ MORE: Social Security Scotland is 'shining example of what independence can do' The letter adds: "Just as the UK opened its doors to those fleeing persecution in Ukraine and Hong Kong, we believe that the same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families.' In 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the UK opened the Ukraine Family Scheme to allow Ukrainian nationals to join family members in the UK, allowing them to live, work and study in the country for up to three years. Applications for the scheme closed in February 2024. The UK also opened a British National (Overseas) visa that allowed Hong Kong citizens to come to the UK after China imposed strict national security laws, allowing them to live in the country for five years and then apply for British citizenship. The politicians told the PM, in a letter sent on Sunday, that they had "grave concern at the immense suffering inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza". They added that Israel was guilty of "shattering the temporary ceasefire agreement", intensifying its 'campaign of bombardment and military assaults, and targeting of people accessing humanitarian aid,' and weaponising starvation. (Image: UK Parliament) The letter was signed by 35 Labour MPs and Lords members, including Clive Lewis and Stella Creasy. SNP MPs Graham Leadbitter and Brendan O'Hara (above), joined independents Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, all four Green MPs, LibDems Tim Farron and Layla Moran, and several Northern Ireland MPs in signing the letter. It adds that allowing a visa scheme for Gazans would allow Palestinians to reunite with their families - "people they may never see again unless urgent action is taken". The MPs added that some Gazans who have attempted to come to the UK have 'struggled to navigate the immigration system', particularly the biometrics they are required to provide which has been made 'impossible' by the destruction of the visa application centre in Gaza and blocked at the Rafah crossing. The letter also notes the lack of safe zones or ways out of Gaza, with MPs stating some constituents have family members who managed to flee Gaza to Egypt but have been 'stuck in limbo'. READ MORE: I'm still using my baby box – here's how my family benefitted from it Marsha de Cordova, Labour MP for Battersea, helped organise the letter with the Gaza Families Reunited. She told Sky News: "The Ukrainian Family Visa Scheme was the right response to a brutal war. "Establishing a Gaza Family Visa Scheme would be an extension of those same principles, showing that this government is steadfast in its commitment to helping families experiencing the worst horrors of war. "It is time for the government to act now to help British Palestinians get their loved ones to safety, enabling them to rebuild their lives." Ghassan Ghaban, spokesperson for Gaza Families Reunited, said that Labour in opposition urged the Tory government to do more to help British Palestinians help get their families to safety, adding that there are only a 'small number' who are impacted. "We are still waiting for the new government to do the right thing," he said. "We, as Palestinians in the UK, simply want the opportunity to bring our loved ones from Gaza to safety, until it is safe to return. "The UK welcomed those fleeing war and persecution in Ukraine and Hong Kong with open arms. All we are asking for is the same treatment to be extended to our family members who have experienced unimaginable trauma as a result of Israel's genocide in Gaza.' A UK Government spokesperson said: "The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable. "Since day one, we have been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages cruelly detained by Hamas, better protection of civilians, significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza, and a path to long-term peace and stability. "There are a range of routes available for Palestinians who wish to join family members in the UK."


Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
‘Don't know if we will wake up': Israel launches fresh new attacks in Gaza; claims 23 lives
AP file photo In a fresh new offensive, Israeli airstrikes and gunfire have claimed the lives of 23 people, including children, in the war-battered territory of Gaza on Sunday, as per Gaza's civil defence agency, reported AFP. Mahmud Bassal, the civil defence spokesman, told AFP that his services "transported 23 martyrs, including several children and women" who were killed in various locations around the besieged territory. The Israeli military told AFP it couldn't comment on the reported incidents but said its ongoing campaign aims to "dismantle Hamas military capabilities" following the group's October 2023 attack on Israel. Bassal informed that two children were killed in an air strike in their home, which was completely destroyed, in the Zeitun neighbourhood of Gaza City early on Sunday morning. A family member, Abdel Rahman Azzam, 45, told AFP that he had heard 'huge explosions' coming from his relative's house, when he 'rushed out in panic and saw the house destroyed and on fire," he said. "We evacuated more than 20 injured people, including two martyrs, two children from the family. The screams of children and women were non-stop," Azzam said. "They bombed the house with a missile without any prior warning. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Por qué está en boca de todos esta inteligencia artificial que hace dinero? IA CFD Solicita ahora Undo This is a horrific crime. We sleep without knowing if we will wake up." A drone strike on a tent sheltering displaced people had killed five people, including a child near the southern city of Khan Yunis, said Bassal. Four more people lost their lives in an Israeli gunfire in Rafah, also located in the south. In the Northern town of Jabalia, Ahmed Arar, 60, said that his home was completely destroyed after they had recieved a warning from a person identifying himself as an Israeli army officer. "About half an hour later, they bombed the house, and it was completely destroyed," he told AFP by telephone. Israeli offensive has claimed the lives of at least 56,500 Gazans, most of whom are civilians in the war-battered territory according to the area's health ministry. Around 1,219 people, mostly civilians have also lost their lives in Israel. Israeli authorities have informed that they would refocus on its campaign against Gaza, that it launched in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attack, after the 12-day war with Iran that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday.