
Israel strikes Iranian state TV in new attack on Tehran – DW – 06/16/2025
June 16, 2025 Palestinians reported killed at Gaza food aid center
Palestinians walks toward a Gaza Humanitarian Fund food distribution center in southern Gaza on June 5 Image: AFP/Getty Images
At least 20 Palestinians were killed in shootings at food distribution centers in southern Gaza, the Health Ministry reported on Monday.
According to the Health Ministry, the people killed were trying to reach the US- and Israel-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Gaza's civil defense agency reports that dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach aid distribution points operated by GHF. The United Nations does not work with the foundation, which it considers ineffective and aimed at catering to Israeli military objectives.
There have been near-daily reports of shootings as Palestinians move through Israeli-controlled areas toward GHF food aid centers in Gaza.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on Monday's incident. In previous incidents, the Israeli military has said it has fired warning shots at people approaching their positions.
Israel restricts media access to the Gaza strip, meaning that news agencies are unable to independently verify death tolls.
The UN's OCHA humanitarian agency has warned that Gaza's entire population of 2 million is at risk of famine. Israel is under international pressure to allow more aid to reach Gazans.
Since Israel resumed strikes on Gaza in March, more than 5,000 people have been reported killed. Israel also cut off aid entering Gaza for two months, saying supplies were aiding Hamas militants who continue to control the enclave.
More than 55,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas terror attacks that preceded the war with Israel.

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Int'l Business Times
2 days ago
- Int'l Business Times
20 People Killed In Aid Point Crush In Southern Gaza
At least 20 people were killed in a chaotic crush at an aid centre in southern Gaza on Wednesday, with the site's operator blaming "agitators" within the crowd and the territory's civil defence agency attributing the panic to Israeli gunfire. It was the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's (GHF) first acknowledgement of deaths at one of its aid centres after weeks of chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Palestinians being killed nearby while waiting to collect rations. The latest deaths came as Hamas accused Israel of wanting to retain long-term military control of Gaza -- a key sticking point in ongoing negotiations aiming to seal a deal for a 60-day ceasefire, the release of hostages and the unfettered flow of much-needed aid. A Palestinian source close to the negotiations told AFP there had been "no progress so far" in the indirect talks, which are now in their second week in Doha. In Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis, the GHF said it understood that 19 of those killed on Wednesday "were trampled and one was stabbed amid a chaotic and dangerous surge". It said the crush was "driven by agitators", adding: "We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd -- armed and affiliated with Hamas -- deliberately fomented the unrest". Gaza's civil defence agency confirmed at least 20 people were killed in the incident, but blamed it on fire from Israeli troops. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that thousands had gathered at the scene when "Israeli forces opened fire and used (tear) gas, causing panic and a stampede after aid centre guards closed the main gates in front of the hungry crowd". The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. AFP footage showed lifeless bodies being taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, with some placed on the floor and others on already-bloodied beds. "They fired stun grenades at us and sprayed us with pepper spray," said Abdullah Alian, who witnessed the crush. "When they saw people starting to die on the ground and people on top of each other suffocating, they opened the gate and people started climbing on top of each other." Paramedic Ziad Farhat told AFP that after 21 months of devastating war, "there are not enough hospitals for the injured or the martyrs, and there is not enough land for the cemeteries". "Enough of what is happening, enough of the tragedies that we are living," he said. The GHF, an officially private effort, began operations on May 26 after Israel had blocked supplies from entering the Gaza Strip for more than two months, sparking warnings of imminent famine. On Tuesday, the UN said it had recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food, including 674 "in the vicinity of GHF sites", since late May. Last week, UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters that "most of the injuries are gunshot injuries". The GHF has denied that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points, and the Israeli army has accused Hamas of firing at civilians, though witnesses have blamed the military. Hamas is seeking a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in the truce negotiations, and last week rejected an Israeli proposal that it said would have kept troops in more than 40 percent of the territory. Israeli public broadcaster Kan on Wednesday quoted a foreign official it did not identify as saying that work was ongoing to revise Israeli pullback maps. But Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas's political bureau, told AFP: "(Israel) has not yet delivered any new or revised maps regarding military withdrawals". "What is happening on the ground confirms (Israel's) intentions and plans to maintain and prolong military control within the Gaza Strip for the long term," he added. A Palestinian source close to the negotiations told AFP there had been "no progress so far". "We hope the mediators will succeed in pressuring Israel to offer an acceptable withdrawal map that ensures an actual withdrawal -- not merely a redeployment of Israeli military forces -- and the entry of aid into the Strip," the source said. Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 sparked the war in Gaza, and resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. A total of 251 hostages were taken that day, of whom 49 are still being held, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 58,573 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. More than 21 months of devastating war in Gaza have created dire humanitarian conditions for the population of more than two million AFP


DW
6 days ago
- DW
Gaza: UN says nearly 800 killed near aid centers since May – DW – 07/11/2025
The OHCHR released figures that showed at least 798 people have been killed trying to access aid in the Gaza Strip over the past 10 weeks. The much-maligned GHF have cast doubt on the veracity of the numbers. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported on Friday that at least 798 people have been killed trying to access aid in the Gaza Strip since the end of May. Of those deaths, 615 were recorded at or near humanitarian aid distribution hubs operated by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani. Another 183 people had been killed "presumably on the routes of aid convoys" conducted by United Nations and other aid organizations, she told reporters in Geneva, where one of the four major UN offices is located. "This is nearly 800 people who have been killed while trying to access aid," she said. "Most of the injuries are gunshot injuries," she added. GHF operations, which effectively sidelined a vast UN aid delivery network in Gaza, have been blighted by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on civilians who are trying to receive aid. The figures from the UN were reported as at least 10 more people were reportedly killed on Friday near an aid distribution site in Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip. About 70 other people were wounded in the incident, the Hamas-controlled Gaza health authority reported. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This all comes as negotiators from Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas — which is classified as a terrorist organization by the German government, the EU, the US and some Arab states — are locked in indirect talks in Qatar about a possible ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he hoped a deal for a 60-day halt in hostilities could be agreed upon in the coming days. The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, told the Reuters news agency that the UN figures were "false and misleading." "The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid site have been linked to UN convoys," a GHF spokesperson said. "Ultimately, the solution is more aid," the spokesperson said. "If the UN (and) other humanitarian groups would collaborate with us, we could end or significantly reduce these violent incidents." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The OHCHR said it based its figures on sources such as data from hospitals in Gaza, cemeteries, families, Palestinian health authorities, NGOs and its partners on the ground. Shamdasani said most of the injuries to Palestinians in the vicinity of aid distribution hubs since May 27 were caused by gunshots. She said there was particular concern about "atrocity crimes being committed where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food." In response to the GHF's casting doubt on the OHCHR figures, 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." Israel says its forces operate around the aid sites to prevent supplies from falling into the hands of militants. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video


Int'l Business Times
7 days ago
- Int'l Business Times
MSF Warns Acute Malnutrition Soaring In Gaza
Doctors Without Borders warned Friday that its teams on the ground in Gaza were witnessing surging levels of acute malnutrition in the besieged and war-ravaged Palestinian territory. The medical charity, known by its French acronym MSF, said levels of acute malnutrition had reached an "all-time high" at two of its facilities in the Gaza Strip. "MSF teams are witnessing a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition among people in Gaza," the organisation said in a statement. "In Al-Mawasi clinic, southern Gaza, and the MSF Gaza Clinic in the north, we are seeing the highest number of malnutrition cases ever recorded by our teams in the Strip." MSF said it now had more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children with severe and moderate malnutrition currently enrolled in ambulatory therapeutic feeding centres in both clinics. The numbers at the Gaza City clinic had almost quadrupled in under two months, from 293 cases in May to 983 cases at the start of this month, it said. "This is the first time we have witnessed such a severe scale of malnutrition cases in Gaza," Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, MSF's deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, said in the statement. "The starvation of people in Gaza is intentional," he charged, insisting that "it can end tomorrow if the Israeli authorities allow food in at scale". Starting in March, Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of famine across a territory widely flattened by Israeli bombing since Hamas's deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Israel began allowing food supplies to trickle in at the end of May, but using a new US- and Israel-backed organisation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). That group's operations, which effectively sidelined a vast UN aid delivery network in Gaza, have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations. The UN said Friday that at least 615 people had been killed in the vicinity of GHF sites since May 27. The organisation itself denies that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points. MSF maintained Friday that "the existence of malnutrition in Gaza is the result of deliberate, calculated choices by the Israeli authorities". They have decided, it said, to "restrict the entry of food to the bare minimum for survival, dictate and militarise the means of its subsequent distribution, all while having destroyed the majority of local food production capacity". MSF described how injured patients at its clinics warned that its malnourished patients were "begging for food instead of medicine, their wounds failing to close due to protein deficiency". Far more babies were also being born prematurely, while six-month pregnant women often weighed no more than 40 kilos (88 pounds), it said. "The situation is beyond critical," said MSF doctor Joanne Perry.