UN body says Israeli forces have killed over 1,000 aid-seekers in Gaza since May, as hunger worsens
Desperation is mounting in the territory of more than 2 million, which experts say
is at risk of famine
because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to
chaos and violence around aid deliveries
.
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid — without providing evidence of widespread diversion — and blames U.N. agencies for failing to deliver food it has allowed in. The military says it has only fired warning shots near aid sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor, rejected what it said were 'false and exaggerated statistics' from the United Nations.
Gaza's Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, said Tuesday that 101 people, including 80 children, have died in recent days from starvation. During hunger crises, people often die from a combination of malnutrition, illness and deprivation.
Israel eased a 2 1/2 month blockade in May, allowing a trickle of aid in through the long-standing U.N.-run system and the newly created GHF. Aid groups say it's not nearly enough.
'I do it for my children'
Dozens of Palestinians lined up on Tuesday outside a charity kitchen in Gaza City, hoping for a bowl of watery tomato soup. The lucky ones got small chunks of eggplant. As supplies ran out, people holding pots pushed and shoved to get to the front.
Nadia Mdoukh, a pregnant woman who was displaced from her home and lives in a tent with her husband and three children, said that she worries about being shoved or trampled on, and about heat stroke as daytime temperatures hover above 90 F (32 C).
'I do it for my children,' she said. 'This is famine — there is no bread or flour.'
The U.N. World Food Program says Gaza's hunger crisis has reached 'new and astonishing levels of desperation.' Ross Smith, the agency's director for emergencies, told reporters Monday that nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and a third of Gaza's population isn't eating for multiple days in a row.
MedGlobal, a charity working in Gaza, said that five children as young as three months had died from starvation in the past three days.
'This is a deliberate and human-made disaster,' said Joseph Belliveau, its executive director. 'Those children died because there is not enough food in Gaza and not enough medicines, including IV fluids and therapeutic formula, to revive them.'
The charity said that food is in such short supply that its own staff suffer dizziness and headaches.
Aid delivery model criticized
Of the 1,054 people killed while trying to get food since late May, 766 were killed while heading to sites run by the Israeli- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the U.N. human rights office. The others were killed when gunfire erupted around U.N. convoys or aid sites.
Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the U.N. rights office, says its figures come from 'multiple reliable sources on the ground,' including medics, humanitarian and human rights organizations. He said the numbers were still being verified according to the office's strict methodology.
Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces regularly fire toward crowds of thousands of people heading to the GHF sites. The military says it has only fired warning shots, and GHF says its armed contractors have only fired into the air on a few occasions to try to prevent stampedes.
A joint statement from
28 Western-aligned countries
on Monday condemned the 'the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians.'
'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' read the statement, which was signed by the United Kingdom, France and other countries friendly to Israel. 'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.'
Israel and the United States rejected the statement, blaming Hamas for prolonging the war by not accepting Israeli terms for a ceasefire and the release of hostages abducted in the militant-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the fighting.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will keep fighting until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed.
Strikes on tents sheltering the displaced
Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people across Gaza on Tuesday, according to local health officials.
One strike hit tents sheltering displaced people in the built-up seaside Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to
Shifa Hospital
, which received the casualties. The Israeli military said that it wasn't aware of such a strike by its forces.
The dead included three women and three children, hospital director Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya told The Associated Press. Thirty-eight other Palestinians were wounded, he said.
An overnight strike that hit crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City killed eight, hospitals said. At least 118 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
'A bag of flour covered in blood and death,' said Mohammed Issam, who was in the crowd and said some people were run over by trucks in the chaos. 'How long will this humiliation continue?'
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that strike. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas, because the militants operate in densely populated areas.
Israel renewed its offensive in March with a surprise bombardment after
ending an earlier ceasefire
. Talks on another truce have dragged on for weeks despite
pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump
.
Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attack, and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.
More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
___
Samy Magdy reported from Cairo, and Tia Goldenberg from Jerusalem. Jamey Keaten contributed to this report from Geneva.
___
Follow AP's war coverage at
https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
19 minutes ago
- New York Times
The Starvation Spreading in Gaza
For nearly two years, people in Gaza have faced death by airstrikes, tanks and bullets. Now, many are facing a slower, quieter end: They are dying from starvation. It's a crisis that Gaza's few remaining functional hospitals can't treat. 'There is no one in Gaza now outside the scope of famine, not even myself,' Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, who leads the pediatric ward at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, told my colleagues. 'I am speaking to you as a health official, but I, too, am searching for flour to feed my family.' As Gaza faces a looming famine, its social order is breaking down. Looting is rampant. Chaos surrounds the enclave's few aid delivery sites. Israeli troops have opened fire on civilians waiting for food, again and again. The United Nations says that more than 1,000 people trying to get food have been killed since May. After 21 months of devastating war in Gaza, it can be difficult to discern when conditions there have meaningfully shifted. But Times correspondents are clear: Gaza is descending into anarchy. It's a crisis that appears unlikely to abate soon, as Israel and the U.S. said yesterday that they would withdraw from cease-fire talks with Hamas. Below, we explain what is happening. An ongoing crisis Hunger in Gaza is not new. Israel's blockade — its ability to control what is allowed into the enclave — has been a source of tension for nearly two decades. Throughout the war, international aid agencies have accused Israel of not allowing enough food into Gaza. Israel says Hamas diverts supplies for its own purposes and aid groups mismanage shipments. The Times has been unable to verify Israel's claims that Hamas is diverting large amounts of aid to itself. The claims are difficult to confirm because Israel does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza unaccompanied. And Gaza-based journalists are themselves struggling to find food. But our reporters have heard from Gazans in recent weeks that they are at risk of starving to death. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
New York Liberty's Isabelle Harrison is raising awareness about her brother's struggle with lupus
NEW YORK (AP) — Isabelle Harrison always looked forward to going to Indiana to play no matter what WNBA team she was on. It gave her a chance to catch up with her brother Daniel, who's been battling lupus since he was 13. Last weekend, when Harrison accompanied her New York Liberty teammate and girlfriend Natasha Cloud to the WNBA All-Star Game, Daniel was in the hospital dealing with complications from the autoimmune disorder. Harrison spent most of the weekend — except when Cloud was competing in and winning the skills competition — with her brother, who has spent four years waiting for a kidney transplant. He needs to be healthy to receive a new kidney. The average wait time for a kidney transplant is 3 to 5 years, though it can vary in different parts of the country. 'I will say the past month now, he's been in and out of the hospital,' Harrison said. 'The first game this year he couldn't come to because he was in the hospital, the second we had to use a walker since he couldn't get around well.' Daniel couldn't make it to the arena for All-Star weekend. 'It's just been kind of hard for him mentally because he's never dealt with this type of it before,' Harrison said. 'The doctors haven't really seen anything like this.' Daniel is a rare case since 90% of people living with lupus are women. Harrison lost her sister, Danielle, to the disease in 2017. Three of Harrison's 12 siblings have been diagnosed with lupus. 'It's very prevalent in the African American community,' Harrison said. Lupus is a chronic disease that can cause pain and inflammation in any part of the body, though it typically affects skin, joints, the heart and kidneys. Approximately 1.5 million Americans have some form of lupus and there are an estimated 16,000 new cases per year, according to the Lupus Foundation of America. The disease causes the immune system to attack healthy tissue and impacts each person differently. Harrison carries some of her sister's ashes in a necklace she wears to keep Danielle close to her heart. She's doing everything she can to make sure she doesn't lose another sibling to the disease. She has a tattoo that reads 'faith over fear.' Harrison came to New York this year after struggling with the Chicago Sky last season. She missed all of 2023 due to meniscus surgery. She's been playing well lately, averaging 8.0 points over the past month as a key reserve for the Liberty. While competing in Athletes Unlimited over the winter the last four years, Harrison has played for the Lupus Foundation of America, raising almost $180,000 for the organization. Harrison said the Liberty have been supportive. The team doctors check in with her, as does general manager Jonathan Kolb. Although Harrison does not have lupus, she battled another autoimmune condition in 2018. 'It means a lot. They really care,' she said. 'I've never ever felt that before on teams I've been with.' ___ AP WNBA:
2 hours ago
'They're losing hope': What doctors, aid workers are seeing in Gaza amid hunger crisis
Doctors and aid workers inside Gaza are reporting grim and heartbreaking details of widespread malnutrition, particularly in children, as the hunger crisis reportedly continues to worsen amid the Israel -Hamas war. The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said on Thursday that 27 people have died of hunger over the last three days, bringing the total to 113 since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023. Of the total deaths due to hunger, 81 have been children, according to the Health Ministry. MercyCorps, an aid organization that provides humanitarian services as well as a hotline for psychosocial support in Gaza, said it has received testimony from parents struggling to provide food for their children. "This is one: 'Last night, I was thinking about killing my children because I can't take proper care of them or raise them in a good way,'" the group relayed to ABC News. "'I can't even provide food. I had to send them to neighboring tents to beg for bread to feed. I truly don't know what to do anymore.'" Abdulwhhab Abu Alamrain -- a volunteer at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza and a worker with the medical data department at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders -- said there are only four stabilization centers for malnutrition in Gaza and the admission capacity is severely limited due to the overcrowding of facilities. He said the emergency departments of hospitals in Gaza have been overwhelmed with injuries since the war began. However, over the last two weeks, they have been overwhelmed with people reportedly injured while trying to get aid, along with people collapsing from hunger. "A kid came to our house like two days ago begging for something to eat, a piece of bread," Alamrain told ABC News. "We don't have any. We gave him from our lunch, [a] cup of chickpeas. … Life feels dystopian recently." On Thursday, MSF said 25% of children and pregnant or breastfeeding women screened at clinics in Gaza are malnourished, and cases of severe malnutrition in children under the age of 5 have tripled in just two weeks. Caroline Willemen, MSF project coordinator in Gaza City, said that on July 19 and 20 at Al-Helou Hospital in northern Gaza, MSF medical teams could not provide food to women and children in the pediatric and maternity wards and there wasn't enough baby formula for the 23 babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. On July 20 and July 21 at Nasser Hospital in central Gaza, 168 patients admitted to the pediatric and maternity wards could not access food, she said. Additionally, Edouard Beigbede, the UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said on Thursday that over two weeks in July, 5,000 children were admitted to their clinics with acute malnutrition and, in Gaza City alone, the number of children screened and detected with acute malnutrition is four times higher than what it was in February. Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president of MedGlobal, told ABC News that 19 children have recently been admitted to the non-profit's clinics in Gaza suffering from severe acute malnutrition, which is a number the organization has never seen. Five of those children, between three months and 4.5 years old, died over the last 72 hours, as of Wednesday, Sahloul said. "This is an emergency because up to 50% of children with severe acute malnutrition can die," Sahloul told ABC News. "Without a dramatic increase in the amount of aid entering, more children will die." Kate Phillips-Barasso, vice president of global policy and advocacy at MercyCorps, said her team on the ground in Gaza is reporting many people going days at a time without eating at all. "Everyone is spending their day in pursuit of how they're going to feed themselves," she told ABC News. "They're losing hope. They're wondering if they or their families will come on the other side alive." MercyCorps was one of more than 100 aid groups that put out a joint statement this week warning of "mass starvation" in Gaza. "We feel like we're tipping over that precipice where more people are going to die," Phillips-Barasso continued. "We're already starting to hear reports of more children dying. That is coming, and when it tips over, it is really hard to put that in reverse. It's getting to a point where they need therapeutic feeding and treatment, not just more food supplies. This is going to start to snowball and be very hard to walk that back." Aid organizations said their workers and medical staff are also struggling to get food. MSF said its staff is treating patients for hunger while struggling to feed themselves and their families as they enroll 25 new malnutrition cases every day in Gaza City alone. Alamrain told ABC News he has lost 27 kilograms (59.5 pounds) since the war began in October 2023, and eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) in the last two months. Recently, his family baked its last 0.5 kilograms (1 pound) of flour to make seven pieces of bread, he said. Although his family does have money to spend, the markets have run out of food. Over the last week, Alamrain said he has consumed between 700 and 1,400 calories per day, even though his recommended number of calories per day sits at 2,500. "These days are like the worst of the whole war in terms of food insecurity. We are not hungry [because] we are poor. We are hungry because there is not food to buy, or if there is, it is like [a] crazy price," he said. "There is like mass feeling of dizziness of people due to hunger." The Israeli government has denied that it is limiting the amount of aid entering Gaza and has claimed Hamas steals aid meant for civilians. Hamas has denied these claims. An Israeli security official said this week that 950 humanitarian aid trucks are waiting at crossings, pending collection and distribution by United Nations agencies. David Mencer, a government spokesperson, told ABC News on Thursday that there is "no famine caused by Israel, but there is a man-made shortage which has been engineered by Hamas." Similarly, on Thursday, State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott denied that Israel -- or the U.S. by extension -- is weaponizing humanitarian aid. "This humanitarian conflict lies at the feet of Hamas, who could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages and laying down their arms," he said.
