Mortality for Gaza babies under five rises tenfold amid war: MSF
The retrospective survey of 2,523 MSF staff and their family members in Gaza also showed that the mortality rate for babies under a month old was six times higher compared with Palestinian Ministry of Health estimates before the outbreak of the war.
"The children of Gaza are being decimated," Amande Bazerolle, deputy manager of MSF's emergency department, said.
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Gulf Today
6 hours ago
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Nearly 800 Gazans killed awaiting aid distribution in six weeks: UN
The UN rights office said on Friday it had recorded at least 798 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near convoys run by other relief groups. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led fighters loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation. After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians trying to reach the GHF's aid hubs in zones where Israeli forces operate, the United Nations has called its aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards. Palestinians walk to collect aid supplies from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters "(From May 27) up until the seventh of July, we've recorded 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys," UN rights office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva. The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May after Israel lifted an 11-week-old aid blockade, told Reuters the UN figures were "false and misleading". It has repeatedly denied that deadly incidents have occurred at its sites. "The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys," a GHF spokesperson said. GUNSHOT WOUNDS The OHCHR said it based its figures on a range of sources such as information from hospitals in Gaza, cemeteries, families, Palestinian health authorities, NGOs and its partners on the ground. Palestinian mother Samah Al Nouri, whose daughter Sama was killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday near a medical centre in Deir Al Balah, comforts her son. Reuters Most of the injuries to Palestinians in the vicinity of aid distribution hubs recorded by the OHCHR since May 27 were gunshot wounds, Shamdasani said. "We've raised concerns about atrocity crimes having been committed and the risk of further atrocity crimes being committed where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food," she said. Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Younis. AFP Following the GHF assertion that the OHCHR figures are false and misleading, Shamdasani said: ""It is not helpful to issue blanket dismissals of our concerns - what is needed is investigations into why people are being killed while trying to access aid." The GHF said on Friday it had delivered more than 70 million meals to hungry Gaza Palestinians in five weeks, and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted" by Hamas or criminal gangs. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the UN World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by "hungry civilian communities." There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies 21 months into Israel's military campaign in Gaza, during which much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble and most of its 2.3 million inhabitants displaced. Reuters
Gulf Today
9 hours ago
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Blockade leaves Gaza's pregnant women hungry and at risk
Like most women at the Gaza City hospital where she attends her pregnancy check-ups, Fatima Arafa's face looks fatigued, a sign of the malnutrition affecting her due to wartime shortages. With the war in Gaza now in its 22nd month and Israel only slightly easing an aid blockade of the Palestinian territory, shortages of everything from food to clean water have hit pregnant women particularly hard. "I am in my sixth month and I can't provide the basic minimum needs to complete this pregnancy," Arafa told AFP before returning to the makeshift camp where she and her family found shelter after being displaced from their home in the north. "Doctor Said will give me a blood transfusion because there is no nutrition and when I want to eat or buy food to eat, I cannot because there is nothing to eat," the 34-year-old said, her face thin and pale. Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its teams in Gaza were witnessing "a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition", with the number of cases at its Gaza City clinic nearly quadrupling over the past two months. Fatima Arafa undergoes medical check up at Al Helou Hospital in Gaza City. Reuters "Due to widespread malnutrition among pregnant women and poor water and sanitation levels, many babies are being born prematurely. Our neonatal intensive care unit is severely overcrowded, with four to five babies sharing a single incubator," said Joanne Perry, an MSF doctor in Gaza. Fathi Al Dahdouh, an obstetrician at the Al Helou Hospital where Arafa has her check-ups, told AFP that miscarriages had soared since the start of the war. "There are eight to nine miscarriages per day (in Gaza City), and we do not know whether this is due to the effects of war and explosive materials or due to a lack of nutrition and immunity," he said. Exhaustion Dahdouh said the war was particularly hard on pregnant women and new mothers. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) warned in May that 17,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza would require treatment for acute malnutrition over the next 11 months. The warning came as Israel enforced an aid blockade of Gaza in the hope of forcing Hamas to surrender, only letting aid back in at a trickle in late May. Fatima Arafa eats a meal inside her tent, where she has taken shelter with her family after fleeing their home, in Gaza City. Reuters "They come here suffering from low blood pressure, weakness, fatigue and exhaustion due to the country's situation and the lack of nutrition," Dahdouh told AFP. For Arafa, just getting to her medical appointments is a challenge. The area around Al Helou Hospital is relatively undamaged by the war but fuel shortages mean Arafa must walk to and from her camp in the searing heat. Once at her shelter — a damaged house with plastic tarpaulins for walls — Fatima, her husband Zahdi and their four children share a meal provided by a charity. The stew of pasta and lentils — the only foods available to most in Gaza — was cooked on a fire lit on the floor tiles of the home for lack of cooking gas. UN agencies and aid groups say the volume of aid reaching Gaza is still not nearly enough and health workers are working in dire conditions. Agence France-Presse
Dubai Eye
10 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
UN reports 798 deaths near Gaza aid hubs in six weeks
The UN rights office said on Friday it had recorded at least 798 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near convoys run by other relief groups. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led fighters loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation. After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians trying to reach the GHF's aid hubs in zones where Israeli forces operate, the United Nations has called its aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards. "(From May 27) up until the seventh of July, we've recorded 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys," UN rights office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a regular media briefing in Geneva. The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May after Israel lifted an 11-week-old aid blockade, told Reuters on Friday the UN figures were "false and misleading". It has repeatedly denied that deadly incidents have occurred at its sites. "The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys," a GHF spokesperson said. The OHCHR said it bases its figures on a range of sources such as information from hospitals in the Gaza Strip, cemeteries, families, Palestinian health authorities, NGOs and its partners on the ground. Most of the injuries to Palestinians in the vicinity of aid distribution hubs recorded by OHCHR since May 27 were gunshot wounds, Shamdasani said. "We've raised concerns about atrocity crimes having been committed and the risk of further atrocity crimes being committed where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food," she said. Israel has repeatedly said its forces operate near the relief aid sites to prevent supplies falling into the hands of Hamas it has been fighting in the Gaza war triggered by the Hamas-led cross-border attack on October 7, 2023. The GHF said on Friday it had delivered more than 70 million meals to hungry Gaza Palestinians in five weeks, and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted" by Hamas or criminal gangs. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, while the UN World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by "hungry civilian communities". There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies 21 months into Israel's military campaign during which much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble and most of its 2.3 million inhabitants displaced.
