logo
WHO calls for opening of Gaza crossings and demands 600 trucks be allowed daily

WHO calls for opening of Gaza crossings and demands 600 trucks be allowed daily

Middle East Eye3 days ago
A spokesperson for the World Health Organization has demanded that the crossings into Gaza be opened and that 600 trucks be allowed into the enclave daily, Al Jazeera has reported.
"The situation in Gaza is a man-made disaster that will end with the entry of aid. Airdropping aid is not a solution; the solution is to bring trucks into Gaza," the spokesperson said.
The UN human rights office has said that 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while waiting for aid in Gaza since late May.
"In total, since 27 May, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food; 859 in the vicinity of [US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] sites and 514 along the routes of food convoys," the UN agency's office for the Palestinian territories said in a statement.
"Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military," it added.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Starvation deaths rise to 175 in Gaza as 6 more Palestinians die
Starvation deaths rise to 175 in Gaza as 6 more Palestinians die

Gulf Today

time2 hours ago

  • Gulf Today

Starvation deaths rise to 175 in Gaza as 6 more Palestinians die

Six more people died of starvation or malnutrition in Gaza over the past 24 hours, its health ministry said on Sunday as Israel said it allowed a delivery of fuel to the enclave, in the throes of a humanitarian disaster after almost two years of war. The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from what international humanitarian agencies say may be an unfolding famine to 175, including 93 children, since the war began, the ministry said. Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said two trucks carrying 107 tonnes of diesel were set to enter Gaza, months after Israel severely restricted aid access to the enclave before easing it somewhat as starvation began to spread. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said later in the day that four tankers of UN fuel had entered to help in operations of hospitals, bakeries, public kitchens and other essential services. There was no immediate confirmation whether the two diesel fuel trucks had entered Gaza from Egypt. Gaza's health ministry has said fuel shortages have severely impaired hospital services, forcing doctors to focus on treating only critically ill or injured patients. People mourn during the funeral of Palestinians, who were killed by Israeli fire while trying to receive aid, at Al Shifa Hospital. Reuters Fuel shipments have been rare since March, when Israel restricted the flow of aid into the enclave in what it said was pressure on Hamas militants to free the remaining hostages they took in their October 2023 attack on Israel. UN agencies say airdrops are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and open up access to the territory to prevent starvation among its 2.2 million people, most of whom are displaced amidst vast swathes of rubble. COGAT said that during the past week over 23,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds of the trucks had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by UN and other international organisations. Meanwhile, Belgium's air force dropped the first in a series of its aid packages into Gaza on Sunday in a joint operation with Jordan, the Belgian defence ministry said. France on Friday started to air-drop 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Sunday that nearly 1,600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs. More than 700 trucks of fuel entered the Gaza Strip in January and February during a ceasefire before Israel broke it in March in a dispute over terms for extending it and resumed its major offensive. Reuters

More Gazans die seeking aid and from hunger, as burial shrouds in short supply
More Gazans die seeking aid and from hunger, as burial shrouds in short supply

Khaleej Times

time4 hours ago

  • Khaleej Times

More Gazans die seeking aid and from hunger, as burial shrouds in short supply

At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Gaza on Monday, including 10 seeking aid, health authorities said, adding another five had died of starvation in what humanitarian agencies say may be an unfolding famine. The 10 died in two separate incidents near aid sites belonging to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in central and southern Gaza, local medics said. The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites. "Everyone who goes there, comes back either with a bag of flour or carried back (on a wooden stretcher) as a martyr, or injured. No one comes back safe," said 40-year-old Palestinian Bilal Thari. He was among mourners at Gaza City's Al Shifa Hospital on Monday who had gathered to collect the bodies of their loved ones killed a day earlier by Israeli fire as they sought aid, according to Gaza's health officials. At least 13 Palestinians were killed on Sunday while waiting for the arrival of UN aid trucks at the Zikim crossing on the Israeli border with the northern Gaza Strip, the officials said. At the hospital, some bodies were wrapped in thick patterned blankets because white shrouds, which hold special significance in Islamic burials, were in short supply due to continued Israeli border restrictions and the mounting number of daily deaths, Palestinians said. "We don't want war, we want peace, we want this misery to end. We are out on the streets, we all are hungry, we are all in bad shape, women are out there on the streets, we have nothing available for us to live a normal life like all human beings, there's no life," Thari told Reuters. There was no immediate comment by Israel on Sunday's incident. The Israeli military said in a statement to Reuters that it had not fired earlier on Monday in the vicinity of the aid distribution centre in the southern Gaza Strip, but it did not elaborate further. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza and says it is taking steps for more aid to reach its population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, air drops, and announcing protected routes for aid convoys. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he would convene his security cabinet this week to discuss how the military should proceed in Gaza to meet all his government's war goals, which include defeating Hamas and releasing the hostages. Deaths from hunger Meanwhile, five more people died of starvation or malnutrition over the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said on Monday. The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from hunger to 180, including 93 children, since the war began. UN agencies have said that airdrops of food are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and quickly ease access to it. Cogat, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said that during the past week, over 23,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by UN and other international organisations. Israel's military later said 120 aid packages containing food had been dropped into Gaza "over the past few hours" by six different countries in collaboration with Cogat. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Sunday that more than 600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions in late July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs. Palestinian and UN officials said Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements — the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war. The Gaza war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. Israel's offensive has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

300 terribly sick Gaza children to be evacuated to UK for treatment
300 terribly sick Gaza children to be evacuated to UK for treatment

Gulf Today

time4 hours ago

  • Gulf Today

300 terribly sick Gaza children to be evacuated to UK for treatment

Hundreds of seriously ill children from Gaza will be evacuated to the UK for treatment by the NHS, as part of a new plan due to be announced within weeks, according to a report. Up to 300 young people will enter the UK for free medical care, a scheme which will run in parallel with another similar operation run by the Project Pure Hope group, a senior Whitehall source told The Times. Since the war began in October 2023, only three children from Gaza have been issued medical visas for the UK, under the Project Pure Hope scheme, which is funded entirely by private donations. The news comes amid a starvation crisis in the ravaged Gaza Strip, where partial and complete Israeli blockades on aid have been behind more than 160 malnutrition-related deaths, including 92 children, health authorities in Gaza say. Ted Chaiban, Unicef's deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations, said on Friday that more than 320,000 young children are at risk of acute malnutrition, after a recent trip to Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Demonstrators stage a protest in solidarity with the people of Gaza and Palestinian detainees, in Ramallah on Sunday. Agence France-Presse The malnutrition indicator in Gaza has 'exceeded the famine threshold', Chaiban said in a statement. 'Horrifying images' Last month, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer promised to evacuate badly injured children. He wrote in The Mirror: 'I know the British people are sickened by what is happening. The images of starvation and desperation in Gaza are utterly horrifying. 'We are urgently accelerating efforts to evacuate children from Gaza who need critical medical assistance – bringing more Palestinian children to the UK for specialist medical treatment.' More than 100 MPs have signed a letter calling for the government to fast-track the scheme, The Times reports. Labour backbench MP Stella Creasy said: 'The commitment we all share to help these children remains absolute and urgent – with every day, more are harmed or die, making the need to overcome any barriers to increasing the support we give them imperative. 'We stand ready to support whatever it takes to make this happen and ask for your urgent response.' Israel denies there is widespread starvation and says that where there is significant hunger in the Strip, it is a result of the theft of aid by Hamas and of failure by the UN to successfully deliver aid. But Unrwa, which was once the largest provider of humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in Gaza, says it has been entirely sidelined. Commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said on Friday that the group has 6,000 trucks loaded with aid stuck waiting outside Gaza for Israel to give it the green light to enter. Israel considers the disarmament of Hamas a key condition for any deal to end the conflict, but Hamas has repeatedly said it is not willing to lay down its weapons. The Independent

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store