Israeli fire kills 30 in Gaza, medics say, as attention shifts to Iran
The deaths included the latest in near daily killings of Palestinians seeking aid in the three weeks since Israel partially lifted a total blockade on Gaza that it had imposed for almost three months.
Medics said separate airstrikes on homes in the Maghazi refugee camp and Zeitoun neighbourhood in central and northern Gaza killed at least 14 people, while five others were killed in an airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Eleven others were killed in Israeli fire at crowds of displaced Palestinians awaiting aid trucks brought in by the United Nations along the Salahuddin road in central Gaza, medics said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was looking into the reported deaths of people waiting for food. Regarding the other strikes, it said it was "operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities" and "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm."
On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said 397 Palestinians among those trying to get food aid had been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since aid deliveries restarted in late May.
Some in Gaza expressed concern that the latest escalations in the war between Israel and Hamas that began in October 2023 would be overlooked as the focus moved to Israel's five-day-old conflict with Iran.
"People are being slaughtered in Gaza, day and night, but attention has shifted to the Iran-Israel war. There is little news about Gaza these days," said Adel, a resident of Gaza City.
"Whoever doesn't die from Israeli bombs dies from hunger. People risk their lives every day to get food, and they also get killed and their blood smears the sacks of flour they thought they had won," he told Reuters via a chat app.
Israel has been channelling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through a new U.S.- and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.
It has said it will continue to allow aid into Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, while ensuring aid doesn't get into the hands of Hamas. Hamas denies seizing aid, saying Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the population in Gaza.
The Gaza war was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli allies.
U.S. ally Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, displaced almost all the territory's residents, and caused a severe hunger crisis.
The assault has led to accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies.
Palestinians in Gaza have been closely following Israel's air war with Iran, long a major supporter of Hamas.
"We are maybe happy to see Israel suffer from Iranian rockets, but at the end of the day, one more day in this war costs the lives of tens of innocent people," said 47-year-old Shaban Abed, a father of five from northern Gaza.
"We just hope that a comprehensive solution could be reached to end the war in Gaza, too. We are being forgotten," he said.
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The Guardian
7 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Heartbreaking': a London surgeon on the trials of operating in a Gaza hospital
Every day between 4am and 6am, Graeme Groom, an orthopaedic surgeon from London, would be woken by a dawn chorus of bombs and missiles. And so began another 24 hours at the Nasser hospital in Gaza, the largest functioning hospital in the territory. Shortly after 8am, the first patients would be wheeled into the operating theatres. Groom and his orthopaedic and plastic surgery colleagues saw on average 20 patients a day: one-third children, one-third women, then men of all ages, their limbs mangled by bombs and guns. Groom, a co-founder of the charity Ideals that provides health services in places affected by conflict, has been to Gaza about 40 times, including four visits since Hamas militants attacked Israel on 7 October 2023. One evening on his most recent trip, just as the 12-hour-plus shift was ending, another emergency was wheeled in. It was an 11-year boy who had lost his nine siblings in an Israeli strike on their family home in Khan Younis. His father, a doctor, was in a critical condition, and later died of his injuries. That night Groom and his team managed to save the boy's arm, rather than amputate it. The boy's name was Adam al-Najjar. As Adam got better, the NHS doctor found that Adam spoke good English and had 'the most angelic smile', which could be prompted by a bar of chocolate from the surgeon's pocket. A few weeks later Adam and his mother were evacuated to Italy. Physically, he was much better by the time he left, Groom said, although it was too early to assess the long-term impact of the explosion on his brain, or the mental scars. 'We could not begin to get a mental health assessment of the effects of losing almost all his family in one bomb.' For every Palestinian child whose trauma captures headlines, there are thousands more whose stories go untold. The UN agency for children reported on 16 July that more than 17,000 children have been killed and 33,000 injured in the 21-month conflict. The NHS doctor recalls seven-year-old Yakub, who, with his older brother, was the only survivor of a bomb attack. Yakub's legs had been broken above and below the knees, the skin and much soft tissue flayed by bombs. 'While I was writing up the operation note … it was just heartbreaking to hear him calling for the mother who was dead.' He recalls two other patients: a mother who was cradling her three-year-old daughter when the bombs exploded. The child lost both legs, the mother's elbows were damaged, depriving her of the use of her arms. She is now regaining the use of one arm. Patients are usually discharged to tents, or improvised shelters in the sand, without rehabilitation. They are malnourished, so wounds heal less well. Infection rates are high and it is hard to keep track of them for follow-up. But it is happening. 'Amazing Palestinian colleagues are doing their very best … [and] without it, the mortality and the long-term disability rate would be much, much higher,' Groom said. The Ideals charity has been sending medical teams to the occupied Palestinian territories since 2009. But never before has it been so hard to bring in supplies. In the past Groom alone brought five large cases. On the most recent visit, his team was banned 'under pain of exclusion, confiscation and possible penalty' from bringing desperately needed equipment such as delicate plastic surgery tools for repairing vein and tissue or orthopaedic frames that allow broken bones to heal. Since the Ideals team first went to Gaza there have always been damaged buildings, but 'absolutely nothing to compare with the apocalyptic destruction that is everywhere' now. All his Palestinian colleagues have been forced to move, some many times. Many have lost close relatives, or most of their extended families. They live in tents near the hospitals with self-dug latrines for toilets. One woman slept in her hijab each night, 'so that if she was killed, she would be presentable', he recalled. 'What was astonishing was how many of them would turn up for work each day from their tents … clean, well-dressed and smiling.' Several appeared to shrug off unimaginable personal suffering. 'When they talked about the loss of family members … they would say 'this is our lives'. I probably have heard that a dozen times,' Groom said of his Palestinian colleagues. Several have also told him they do not want to be known as resilient. They just want the bombing to stop, said Groom. At his most recent visit, from 13 May to 4 June, market stalls had almost disappeared. Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, reported on Tuesday that doctors and nurses were among people 'fainting from hunger and exhaustion', having previously said Israeli authorities were 'starving civilians'. On 20 July, an anaesthetist, who was also a parent to six children, told Groom that he and his family were starving. His children ranging from two to 13 are suffering from fatigue, weakness, cramps and amnesia. They were confused, they were crying, the anaesthetist said in messages to Groom seen by the Guardian. The anaesthetist could only give them salt to lick and water. Groom has relayed what he has witnessed in Gaza to policymakers in Brussels, Berlin and Paris, urging greater western pressure on Israel. 'Everywhere we were met with empathy, very often with tears, but with a sense of impotence.' After he spoke to the Guardian, the European Commission proposed a partial suspension of Israel's participation in the EU research programme, the first possible punitive measure against the Israeli government, which must be agreed by a majority of member states to take effect. Groom had been 'hugely disappointed' when earlier this month EU foreign ministers took no action following a review into the bloc's relations with Israel, 'but I don't think the fight is over'.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
100 Gaza children hope to be evacuated to UK for urgent medical care
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BBC News
5 hours ago
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Can countries solve the plastic pollution problem?
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Human societies have used plastics that occur naturally in the environment for hundreds of years, in the form of rubber, horn and the 20th Century brought the explosion of synthetic plastics, made from processing fossil material's versatility, strength and heat-resistant properties has lent itself to thousands of uses, from sewage pipes to life-saving medical equipment, to clothing. It has become ubiquitous in a short time without understanding its full impact, explains Dr Alice Horton, research scientist at the National Oceanography Centre. "Proportional to life on earth, plastics have been around for no time at all, there are people alive that weren't using plastics as children. I think that's what makes this quite a concerning material," said Dr Horton. "It has exploded in such a way that we are using it in every application in our lives and yet we are suddenly realising there may be problems with it." How are plastics impacting our planet? Levels of plastic production have grown exponentially over the last few decades. In 1950 two million tonnes was produced, by 2022 that had risen to 475 million plastic can be reused, the cost and availability of recycling infrastructure means very little is. About 60% of all plastics are single use and just 10% are estimated to be recycled, according to analysis in Nature. Plastic has been shown to accumulate in the marine environment where it poses particular problems for wildlife who can ingest it. "They can confuse it as food, which then harms their internal organs and also can lead to fatalities, because of digestion difficulties," said Zaynab Sadan, global plastics policy lead at WWF. She said they could also become entangled in discarded fishing gear or plastic packaging that has entered the ocean from sewage systems. When it enters the environment, most plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces - known as microplastics. They have been found across all geographical ranges, from the deep sea to mountain tops, and across all living systems ever is continuing to understand the full impact, with different species faring better than others. But Dr Horton from the National Oceanography Centre warns there is a threshold where animals will start to be harmed."When we [get] accumulation of plastic in tissues we start seeing inflammation, cell damage, hormonal changes. Things that are not outright going to kill an organism but likely to have this accumulative, long-term effect whereby they get weaker and weaker, and sicker and sicker, and either become diseased or die," she explained. Are plastics harmful for us? Plastics are a "grave, growing and under-recognised danger" for human health, according to a new expert report. The Lancet Countdown estimated that health-related disease and death from the "plastic crisis" is responsible for at least $1.5tn (£1.1tn) a year in health-related damages. These impacts can range from air pollution from the production of plastic, through to elevated risk of cancer, respiratory illnesses and miscarriages from plastic contamination in our contain more than 16,000 chemicals such as dyes and flame retardants, some of which are toxic and cancer-causing. Despite the growing body of evidence of the hazards of plastic, the Lancet report highlights that there is a lack of transparency as to what is in most products. Just a quarter of plastic chemicals have data on their impact, but of those tested 75% were found to be "highly hazardous". What are countries trying to agree? In 2022, countries agreed a global treaty was needed in two years to tackle the deadline passed in December 2024, after five rounds of negotiations, with no treaty having been signed. On Tuesday, more than 170 nations will meet again to try to get a deal over the main issues they are trying to get agreement on include:Targets on cutting the production levels of single-use plasticsBans on some of the most harmful chemicals in plasticUniversal guidance on the design of plastic products Financing of this effortProducts that have to meet consistent design standards can help to improve recycling, save costs and reduce the demand for virgin plastics, Rob Opsomer, executive lead of plastics and finance at the Ellen McArthur Foundation, which co-convenes the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, told the BBC."So, to give you one example, a drinks bottle, if it is coloured, the value of what you can get from it if you sell the recycled material is half the value of a clear, uncoloured bottle," he 100 countries, including the UK, are calling for an "ambitious" treaty which would include a commitment to limit production levels. But there has been strong opposition from a group of oil-producing nations including Russia and Saudi Arabia who want the talks to focus not on producing less, but recycling more. Demand for oil in global energy and transport systems is expected to peak in the next few years as countries move to greener technologies. This could leave plastic as one of the few growth markets for the oil industry. Any efforts to limit production could pose short term economic damage to the for those users of plastics not having clear, global regulations is costing them."It is a fundamental risk. Businesses don't want packaging with their brand name on it to be littering the streets and our oceans," said Mr Opsomer. He said there was also the cost for businesses of having to comply with hundreds of new standards globally every year on Business Coalition, which includes some of the biggest global users of plastic such as Nestle and Unilever, is calling for governments to introduce coordinated taxes on their businesses to help pay for the cost of recycling and cleaning up plastic waste. What can you do to reduce plastic waste? Single-use plastic is the biggest contributor to plastic waste in the environment, and most of our daily consumption of this comes from food packaging. You can take a reusable container or cup if you are getting a takeaway, and when food shopping consider taking a reusable sealed bag to weigh your fruit and is estimated that more than a quarter of microplastics in the environment come from car tyres. For those that are able, walking and cycling to the local shops or sharing car journeys with friends or neighbours can help. And avoid plastics that break down to microplastics more easily - such as chewing gum and glitter. There are many non-plastic alternatives still available which means you can keep having fun at festivals. Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to keep up with the latest climate and environment stories with the BBC's Justin Rowlatt. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.
