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UN agency says Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on Gaza crowd seeking aid

UN agency says Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on Gaza crowd seeking aid

Irish Examiner5 days ago
The UN food agency has accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid, in what the territory's Health Ministry said was one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers.
The World Food Programme condemned the violence that erupted in northern Gaza as Palestinians tried to reach a convoy of trucks carrying food.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 80 people were killed in the incident.
The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat', but has questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians.
The accusation by a major aid agency that has had generally good working relations with Israel builds on descriptions by witnesses and others, who also said Israel opened fire on the crowd.
Smoke and flames erupt from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)
The bloodshed surrounding aid access highlights the increasingly precarious situation for people in Gaza who have been desperately seeking out food and other assistance, as the war shows no signs of ending.
Israel and Hamas are still engaged in ceasefire talks, but there appears to be no breakthrough and it is not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt.
As the talks proceed, the death toll in the war-ravaged territory has climbed to more than 58,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Its count does not distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children.
The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Israel has meanwhile widened its evacuation orders for the territory to include an area that has been somewhat less hard-hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier stretches of Gaza.
In northern Gaza on Sunday, the Health Ministry, witnesses and a UN official said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to get food from a 25-truck convoy that had entered the hard-hit area.
The WFP statement, which said the crowd surrounding its convoy 'came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,' backs up those claims.
The statement did not specify a death toll, saying only the incident resulted in the loss of 'countless lives.'
'These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,' it said, adding that the incident occurred despite assurances from Israeli authorities that aid delivery would improve.
Part of those assurances, it said, was that armed forces would not be present nor engage along aid routes.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the WFP claims. Military spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani posted on X on Sunday that soldiers were told 'do not engage, do not shoot'.
Israel has not allowed international media to enter Gaza throughout the war, and the competing claims could not be independently verified.
Sunday's incident comes as Palestinian access to aid in the territory has been greatly diminished, and seeking that aid has become perilous.
A US and Israeli-backed aid system that has wrested some aid delivery from traditional providers like the UN has been wracked by violence and chaos as Palestinians heading toward its aid distribution sides have come under fire.
The group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, had said that the majority of the reported violence has not occurred at its sites.
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The latest child to starve to death in Gaza weighed less than when she was born
The latest child to starve to death in Gaza weighed less than when she was born

Irish Examiner

time26 minutes ago

  • Irish Examiner

The latest child to starve to death in Gaza weighed less than when she was born

A mother pressed a final kiss on what remained of her five-month-old daughter and wept. Esraa Abu Halib's baby now weighed less than when she was born. On a sunny street in shattered Gaza, the bundle containing Zainab Abu Halib represented the latest death from starvation after 21 months of war and Israeli restrictions on aid. The baby was taken to the paediatric department of Nasser Hospital on Friday. She was already dead. A worker at the morgue carefully removed her Mickey Mouse-printed shirt, pulling it over her sunken, open eyes. He pulled up the hems of her pants to show her knobby knees. His thumb was wider than her ankle. He could count the bones of her chest. The girl had weighed more than 3kg (6.6lbs) when she was born, her mother said. When she died, she weighed less than 2kg (4.4lbs). Palestinians pray over the body of five-month-old baby Zainab Abu Halib (Mariam Dagga/AP) A doctor said it was a case of 'severe, severe starvation'. She was wrapped in a white sheet for burial and placed on the sandy ground for prayers. The bundle was barely wider than the imam's stance. He raised his open hands and invoked Allah once more. Zainab was one of 85 children to die of malnutrition-related causes in Gaza in the past three weeks, according to the latest toll released by the territory's health ministry on Saturday. Another 42 adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the same period, it said. 'She needed a special baby formula which did not exist in Gaza,' Zainab's father, Ahmed Abu Halib, told The Associated Press as he prepared for her funeral prayers in the hospital's courtyard in the southern city of Khan Younis. Dr Ahmed al-Farah, head of the paediatric department, said the girl had needed a special type of formula that helps with babies allergic to cow's milk. He said she had not suffered from any diseases, but the lack of the formula led to chronic diarrhoea and vomiting. She was not able to swallow as her weakened immune system led to a bacterial infection and sepsis, and quickly lost more weight. Esraa Abu Halib shows to journalists a photo of her five-month-old baby, Zainab (Mariam Dagga/AP) The child's family, like many of Gaza's Palestinians, lives in a tent, displaced. Her mother, who also has suffered from malnutrition, said she breastfed the girl for only six weeks before trying to feed her formula. 'With my daughter's death, many will follow,' she said. 'Their names are on a list that no-one looks at. They are just names and numbers. We are just numbers. Our children, whom we carried for nine months and then gave birth to, have become just numbers.' Her loose robe hid her own weight loss. The arrival of children suffering from malnutrition has surged in recent weeks, Dr al-Farah said. His department, with a capacity of eight beds, has been treating about 60 cases of acute malnutrition. They have placed additional mattresses on the ground. Another malnutrition clinic, affiliated with the hospital, receives an average of 40 cases weekly, he said. 'Unless the crossings are opened and food and baby formula are allowed in for this vulnerable segment of Palestinian society, we will witness unprecedented numbers of deaths,' he warned. Doctors and aid workers in Gaza blame Israel's restrictions on the entry of aid and medical supplies. Food security experts warn of famine in the territory of more than two million people. After ending the latest ceasefire in March, Israel cut off the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies completely to Gaza for two and a half months, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages. Our children, whom we carried for nine months and then gave birth to, have become just numbers Under international pressure, Israel slightly eased the blockade in May. Since then, it has allowed in about 4,500 trucks for the UN and other aid groups to distribute, including 2,500 tons of baby food and high-calorie special food for children, Israel's Foreign Ministry said last week. Israel says baby formula has been included, plus formula for special needs. The average of 69 trucks a day, however, is far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the UN says are needed for Gaza. The UN says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because hungry crowds and gangs take most of it from its arriving trucks. Separately, Israel has backed the US-registered Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which in May opened four centres distributing boxes of food supplies. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food, mostly near those new aid sites, the UN human rights office says. Much of Gaza's population now relies on aid. 'There was a shortage of everything,' the mother of Zainab said as she grieved. 'How can a girl like her recover?'

The challenges in defining Gaza's plight
The challenges in defining Gaza's plight

RTÉ News​

timean hour ago

  • RTÉ News​

The challenges in defining Gaza's plight

The United Nations and NGOs are warning of an imminent famine in the Gaza Strip, a designation based on strict criteria and scientific evidence. But the difficulty of getting to the most affected areas in the Palestinian territory, besieged by Israel, means there are huge challenges in gathering the required data. What is a famine? The internationally-agreed definition for famine is outlined by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an initiative of 21 organisations and institutions including UN agencies and aid groups. The IPC definition has three elements. Firstly, at least 20% of households must have an extreme lack of food and face starvation or destitution. Second, acute malnutrition in children under five exceeds 30%. And third, there is an excess mortality threshold of two in 10,000 people dying per day. Once these criteria are met, governments and UN agencies can declare a famine. What is the situation in Gaza? Available indicators are alarming regarding the food situation in Gaza. "A large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving," according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Food deliveries are "far below what is needed for the survival of the population", he said, calling it "man-made... mass starvation". Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said yesterday that a quarter of all young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women screened at its clinics in Gaza last week were malnourished, blaming Israel's "deliberate use of starvation as a weapon". Almost a third of people in Gaza are "not eating for days" and malnutrition is surging, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said. The head of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said this week that 21 children had died across the Palestinian territory in the previous 72 hours "due to malnutrition and starvation". The very few foodstuffs in the markets are inaccessible, with a kilogramme of flour reaching the exorbitant price of €85, while the Gaza Strip's agricultural land has been ravaged by the war. According to NGOs, the 20 or so aid trucks that enter the territory each day - vastly insufficient for more than two million hungry people - are systematically looted. "It's become a technical point to explain that we're in acute food insecurity, IPC4, which affects almost the entire population. It doesn't resonate with people," said Amande Bazerolle, in charge of MSF's emergency response in Gaza. "Yet we're hurtling towards famine - that's a certainty." What are the challenges in gathering data? NGOs and the WHO concede that gathering the evidence required for a famine declaration is extremely difficult. "Currently we are unable to conduct the surveys that would allow us to formally classify famine," said Ms Bazerolle. She said it was "impossible" for them to screen children, take their measurements, or assess their weight-to-height ratio. Jean-Raphael Poitou, Middle East programme director for Action Against Hunger, said the "continuous displacements" of Gazans ordered by the Israeli military, along with restrictions on movement in the most affected regions, "complicate things enormously". Nabil Tabbal, incident manager at the WHO's emergency programme, said there were "challenges regarding data, regarding access to information". Can famine still be avoided? For France's foreign ministry, malnutrition and the "risk of famine" is the "result of the blockade imposed by Israel". The Israeli military denies it is blocking humanitarian aid entering Gaza. On Tuesday it claimed that 950 truckloads of aid were inside the Strip waiting for collection and distribution by international organisations. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer insisted there was "no famine caused by Israel. There is a man-made shortage engineered by Hamas." Hamas has consistently denied that. The New York Times today reported that, according to two senior Israeli military officials and two other Israelis involved, "the Israeli military never found proof" supporting the official Israeli allegation. NGOs have accused Israel of imposing drastic restrictions. More than 100 NGOs - including MSF, Caritas, Save the Children, Amnesty International, Medecins du Monde, Christian Aid and Oxfam - have urged Israel to open all land crossings and "restore the full flow of food" into Gaza. What does a famine declaration tell us? A fresh Gaza IPC assessment is due very soon. For some, the technical debates over a famine declaration seem futile given the urgency of the situation. "Any famine declaration... comes too late," explained Jean-Martin Bauer, the WFP's director of food security and nutrition analysis. "By the time famine is officially declared, many lives have already been lost." In Somalia in 2011, when famine was formally declared, half of the total number of victims of the disaster had already died of starvation. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after a deadly attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023. The Israeli campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israeli air strikes in Gaza Strip leave at least 25 dead, health officials say
Israeli air strikes in Gaza Strip leave at least 25 dead, health officials say

Irish Examiner

time5 hours ago

  • Irish Examiner

Israeli air strikes in Gaza Strip leave at least 25 dead, health officials say

At least 25 people were killed by Israeli air strikes and gunshots overnight, according to health officials and the ambulance service on Saturday, as ceasefire talks appear to have stalled and Palestinians in Gaza face famine. The majority of victims were killed by gunfire as they waited for aid trucks close to the Zikim crossing with Israel, said staff at Shifa hospital, where the bodies were brought. The Israeli army did not respond to requests for comments about the latest shootings. Those killed in the strikes include four people in an apartment building in Gaza City among others, hospital staff and the ambulance service said. The strikes come as ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have hit a standstill after the US and Israel recalled their negotiating teams on Thursday, throwing the future of the talks into further uncertainty. Palestinians mourn during the funeral of people who were killed while trying to reach aid trucks (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP/PA) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday his government was considering 'alternative options' to ceasefire talks with Hamas. His comments came as a Hamas official said negotiations were expected to resume next week and portrayed the recall of the Israeli and American delegations as a pressure tactic. Egypt and Qatar, which are mediating the talks alongside the US, said the pause was only temporary and that talks would resume, though they did not say when. The United Nations (UN) and experts have said that Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine, with reports of increasing numbers of people dying from causes related to malnutrition. While Israel's army says it is allowing aid into the enclave with no limit on the number of trucks that can enter, the UN says it is hampered by Israeli military restrictions on its movements and incidents of criminal looting. The Zikim crossing shootings come days after at least 80 Palestinians were killed trying to reach aid entering through the same crossing. The Israeli military said at the time its soldiers shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians who posed a threat and that it was aware of some casualties. Marwa Barakat (centre) mourns during the funeral of her son Fahd Abu Hajeb (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP/PA) Israel is facing increased international pressure to alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza. More then two dozen Western-aligned countries and more than 100 charity and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, harshly criticising Israel's blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out. The charities and rights groups said even their own staff were struggling to get enough food. For the first time in months Israel said it is allowing airdrops, requested by Jordan. A Jordanian official said the airdrops will mainly be food and milk formula. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote in a newspaper article on Saturday that the UK was 'working urgently' with Jordan to get British aid into Gaza. Aid group the World Central Kitchen said on Friday it was resuming limited cooking operations in Deir al-Balah after being forced to halt due to a lack of food supplies. It said it is trying to serve 60,000 meals daily through its field kitchen and partner community kitchens, less than half of what it has cooked over the previous month.

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