At least 35 killed in new Israeli attack on Gaza aid seekers
Israeli jets also bombed a house west of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, killing at least eight people and injuring more.
Hospitals in Gaza said at least 50 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army on Friday.
Israeli attacks on hungry Palestinians near aid centres have killed hundreds of people since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started distributions on May 27.
The shadowy Israeli- and United States-backed group tasked with distributing aid supplies has been criticised by the United Nations for its 'failure' to ensure the safe delivery of supplies in Gaza, where aid agencies have warned that the entire population is facing the threat of famine after Israel imposed a total blockade from early March to late May.
Ismail al-Thawabta, the director-general of Gaza's Government Media Office, said on Thursday that the total number of aid seekers killed stood at 409, and 3,203 more had been injured.
UNICEF warned the Gaza Strip was also facing a man-made drought as its water systems collapsed.
'Children will begin to die of thirst,' spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva on Friday. 'Just 40 percent of drinking water production facilities remain functional.'
The UN agency warned that the GHF distribution system was 'making a desperate situation worse'.
Elder, who was recently in Gaza, said he had many testimonials of women and children injured while trying to receive food aid, including a young boy who was wounded by a tank shell and later died of his injuries.
He said a lack of public clarity on when the sites, some of which are in combat zones, were open was causing mass casualty events.
'There have been instances where information [was] shared that a site is open, but then it's communicated on social media that they're closed, but that information was shared when Gaza's internet was down and people had no access to it,' he said.
On Wednesday, the GHF said in a statement it had distributed three million meals across three of its aid sites without an incident.
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Qatar Tribune
5 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Israel kills over 300 in Gaza as focus intensifies on GHF
Agencies Gaza More than 300 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the last 48 hours, according to the Gaza Government Media Office, which says Israel has 'committed 26 bloody massacres' in that period. At least 118 Palestinians were killed and 581 others injured in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Thursday. At least 73 of those were killed since dawn, including 33 aid seekers at the controversial Israeli and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites. Thirteen people were killed when Israeli forces attacked a tent in al-Mawasi in the south, while 16 were killed and many wounded in an attack on Mustafa Hafez School, sheltering displaced people west of Gaza City, medical sources told Al Jazeera. Ahmed Mansour, a displaced Palestinian taking shelter in the school building, said, 'We woke up to fierce [Israeli] air strikes. It felt like an earthquake. People say it was a drone attack, but the sound was horrifying, relentless shelling. Missiles were so destructive that they set everything on fire. Victims were left burning for hours without help. There is no one here to save us.' The Government Media Office statement on Thursday said the attacks over the last 48 hours had targeted civilians in shelters and displacement centres overcrowded with tens of thousands of displaced people, public rest areas, Palestinian families inside their homes, popular markets and vital civilian facilities, and starving civilians searching for food. US contractors ostensibly guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza have been using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press news agency. Two US contractors, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity, said they were speaking out because they were disturbed by what they considered dangerous practices. They said the security staff hired were often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemed to have an open licence to do whatever they wished. Later Thursday, GHF released a statement of denial. 'GHF launched an immediate investigation when the Associated Press first brought these allegations to our attention. Based on time-stamped video footage and sworn witness statements, we have concluded that the claims in the AP's story are categorically false.' 'At no point were civilians under fire at a GHF distribution site. The gunfire heard in the video was confirmed to have originated from the [Israeli military], who was outside the immediate vicinity of the GHF distribution site. It was not directed at individuals, and no one was shot or injured,' it claimed without providing evidence. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has called for investigations into the killings and wounding of Palestinians trying to access food through GHF. UNRWA notes that while it operated about 400 sites across the besieged enclave, GFH has set up only four 'mega-sites', three in the south and one in central Gaza – none in the north, where conditions are most severe. In a post on X, UNRWA called for the UN to 'do the work' in distributing aid. More than 130 humanitarian organisations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty International, on Tuesday demanded the immediate closure of the GHF, accusing it of facilitating attacks on starving Palestinians. The NGOs said Israeli forces and armed groups 'routinely' open fire on civilians attempting to access food. Since the GHF began operations in late May, more than 650 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, and nearly 4,000 have been wounded.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
‘Death or food': The Palestinians killed by Israel at Gaza's aid centres
Khan Younis, Gaza – At the sight of her son Ahmed's bullet-riddled body laid out in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, Asmahan Shaat collapsed on the ground, overcome by grief. Her screams echoed through the air, her voice choked by shock and sorrow. She kissed the 23-year-old's face, hands and feet as she cried. Her six other children and relatives tried to hold her back, but she pushed them away. 'Leave me with him. Leave me with him,' she cried. 'Ahmed will speak again. He told me, 'Mom, I am not going to die. I'll bring you something from the aid centre in Rafah.'' Ahmed had left the displaced family's shelter in al-Mawasi before dawn on Thursday to collect food. He never returned. His cousin, Mazen Shaat, was with him. Mazen said Ahmed was shot in the abdomen when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd near the United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution centre in Rafah. Others were also killed and wounded. In just one month, 600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,200 wounded by Israeli fire near GHF aid distribution sites, according to Gaza's Government Media Office, and the number of deaths at these centres climbs on a near-daily basis. What were meant to be lifelines – facilitated by the US while bypassing United Nations agencies – have instead become fatal chokepoints. Human rights organisations and UN officials have criticised the GHF model as militarised, dangerous and unlawful. A report published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday quoted Israeli army soldiers saying they had been ordered to shoot into unarmed crowds, even when no threat was present. Asmahan's grief turned to fury: 'Is it reasonable that my son should die because he went to bring us food? Where is the world that calls itself free? How long will this torture go on?' Gaza's population of 2 million people, worn out by 21 months of relentless bombing and displacement, has been pushed to the brink of famine by Israel's restrictions that have, since March 2, allowed only a trickle of humanitarian items through the sealed crossings it controls. 'We want you, not food' Inside the morgue at Nasser Hospital, not far from where Ahmed lay, 25-year-old Shireen threw herself on the body of her husband, Khalil al-Khatib, 29. She was barely able to stand as she sobbed. 'Khalil, get up. Your son Ubaida is waiting for you,' she cried. 'I told him this morning, 'Daddy will come back soon.' We don't want food – we want you.' Khalil had also left from al-Mawasi in search of aid. His father-in-law, Youssef al-Rumailat, said Khalil was careful to avoid Israeli tanks and never expected to be targeted. 'He was a gentle man,' Youssef said. 'He feared for his safety in a place where everything has become deadly, so he hadn't been able to provide anything for his children. His son Ubaida, who just turned five, would ask for bread or rice. And he'd cry because he couldn't provide that or milk for his youngest, born just days into the war.' 'They use our desperation,' Youssef said bitterly. 'Nothing is more painful for a man than not being able to provide for his family. These places are now death traps. This is not aid. This is annihilation.' Youssef said the family, like many others, has lost all trust in the new humanitarian mechanism. 'We don't want this blood-soaked aid. Let us go back to the UN system. At least we weren't being killed trying to eat.' Hunger, desperation and death The GHF, launched in May with Israel's coordination, was intended to deliver food directly to southern Gaza. However, its deliveries are not routed through traditional humanitarian agencies like UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which Israel has accused – without providing conclusive evidence – of ties to Hamas. Critics said this exclusion has contributed to a breakdown in oversight, coordination and safety. While Israel said it facilitates aid deliveries and targets only perceived threats, testimonies and reports paint a starkly different picture. Mustafa Nabil Abu Eid, 31, displaced from Rafah to al-Mawasi, was returning from the Rafah distribution point with his friend Abdullah Abu Ghali, 39. They were carrying a few bags of pasta, rice and lentils in their backpacks. Mustafa described the trip as a 'death journey'. 'We walk about 2km [1.2 miles] just to reach the edge of the zone,' he said. 'Then we wait – hours sometimes – until tanks move back. When they do, we run across open ground. You don't know if you'll get food or be killed.' He said he's often asked why people still go. 'There's no choice. If we stay in the tents, we die from hunger, disease, bombing. If we go, we might die, but we might also bring something back for our kids.' Mustafa has five children. His eldest, Saba, is 10. His youngest – twins Hoor and Noor – just turned three. 'They cry from hunger. I can't bear it. We search for life through death.' 'Death trap' distribution Aid agencies have warned that famine is already present in parts of Gaza. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported in June that the entire population is facing acute food shortages with more than one million people at risk of starvation. Children are dying from malnutrition and dehydration. With UNRWA's operations severely restricted and the GHF offering limited, inconsistent and dangerous access to food, desperate civilians have little choice but to risk their lives for basic sustenance. Since the American-Israeli aid initiative began on May 27, 39 people remain unaccounted for, presumed missing or killed near the aid zones, according to Gaza's government. Some have likely been buried in unmarked graves or remain trapped under rubble or in inaccessible terrain. Call for accountability The systematic attacks on civilians at aid sites may amount to war crimes, according to international legal experts and human rights watchdogs. Under international humanitarian law, parties to a conflict must ensure the protection of civilians and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid. 'Deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, including aid workers and distribution points, are strictly prohibited,' the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a June statement. But for families like the Shaats and the Khatibs, legal classifications offer little comfort. Asmahan clings to one hope – that her son's name will not be forgotten. 'He just wanted to feed his family,' she said. 'He did nothing wrong. They killed him like his life meant nothing. Tell the world: We are not numbers. We are people, and we are starving.' This piece was published in collaboration with Egab.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Gaza aid killings
Hundreds of people in Gaza have been shot dead while going to collect desperately needed food from Israeli- and US-backed aid hubs, according to officials in the Strip. Start Here with Sandra Gathmann explains what's been happening. This episode features: Amy Low | Medical Team Lead, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Kazem Abu Khalaf | Palestine Spokesperson, UNICEF Nebal Farsakh | Spokesperson, Palestine Red Crescent Society
