WHO says Gaza's Al-Nasser Hospital ‘one massive trauma ward'
The US-and Israeli-backed GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of deliveries that the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It has repeatedly denied that incidents involving people killed or wounded at its sites have occurred.
Referring to medical staff at Al-Nasser Hospital, Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the West Bank and Gaza, told reporters in Geneva: 'They've seen already for weeks, daily injuries ... (the) majority coming from the so-called safe non-UN food distribution sites. The hospital is now operating as one massive trauma ward.'
Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19.
The United Nations human rights office said on Friday that it had recorded at least 613 killings both at aid points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near humanitarian convoys.
'We have recorded 613 killings, both at GHF points and near humanitarian convoys - this is a figure as of June 27. Since then ... there have been further incidents,' Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.
The OHCHR said 509 of the 613 were killed near GHF distribution points.
The GHF has previously said it has delivered more than 52 million meals to hungry Palestinians in five weeks 'safely and without interference,' while other humanitarian groups had 'nearly all of their aid looted.'
The UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that there have been some instances of violent looting and attacks on aid truck drivers, which it described as unacceptable.
Bullet wounds
Hundreds of patients, mainly young boys, were being treated for traumatic injuries, including bullet wounds to the head, chest and knees, according to the WHO.
Peeperkorn said health workers at Al-Nasser Hospital and testimonies from family members and friends of those wounded confirmed that the victims had been trying to access aid at sites run by the GHF.
Peeperkorn recounted the cases of a 13-year-old boy shot in the head, as well as a 21-year-old with a bullet lodged in his neck which rendered him paraplegic.
'There is no chance for any reversal or any proper treatment. Young lives are being destroyed forever,' Peeperkorn said, urging for the fighting to stop and for more food aid to be allowed into Gaza.
The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, while displacing most of the population of more than 2 million, triggering widespread hunger and leaving much of the territory in ruins.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday it would probably be known in 24 hours whether Hamas has agreed to accept what he has called a 'final proposal' for a ceasefire in Gaza.
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Asharq Al-Awsat
2 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel Will Send Ceasefire Negotiating Team to Qatar a Day Before Trump and Netanyahu Meet
US-led ceasefire efforts in Gaza appeared to gain momentum Saturday after nearly 21 months of war, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office said Israel on Sunday will send a negotiating team to talks in Qatar. The statement also asserted that Hamas was seeking 'unacceptable' changes to the proposal. US President Donald Trump has pushed for an agreement and will host Netanyahu at the White House on Monday to discuss a deal. Inside Gaza, Israeli airstrikes killed 14 Palestinians and another 10 were killed while seeking food aid, hospital officials in the embattled enclave told The Associated Press. And two American aid workers with the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation were injured in an attack at a food distribution site, which the organization blamed on Hamas, without providing evidence. Weary Palestinians expressed cautious hope after Hamas gave a 'positive' response late Friday to the latest US proposal for a 60-day truce but said further talks were needed on implementation. 'We are tired. Enough starvation, enough closure of crossing points. We want to sleep in calm where we don't hear warplanes or drones or shelling,' said Jamalat Wadi, one of Gaza's hundreds of thousands of displaced people, speaking in Deir al-Balah. She squinted in the sun during a summer heatwave of over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). Hamas has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war's end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the militant group's destruction. 'Send a delegation with a full mandate to bring a comprehensive agreement to end the war and bring everyone back. No one must be left behind,' Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, told the weekly rally by relatives and supporters in Tel Aviv. A Palestinian doctor and his three children killed Israeli airstrikes struck tents in the crowded Muwasi area on Gaza's Mediterranean coast, killing seven people including a Palestinian doctor and his three children, according to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. Four others were killed in the town of Bani Suheila in southern Gaza. Three people were killed in three strikes in Khan Younis. Israel's army did not immediately comment. Separately, eight Palestinians were killed near a GHF aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, the hospital said. One Palestinian was killed near another GHF point in Rafah. It was not clear how far the Palestinians were from the sites. GHF denied the killings happened near their sites. The organization has said no one has been shot at its sites, which are guarded by private contractors and can be accessed only by passing Israeli military positions hundreds of meters (yards) away. The army had no immediate comment but has said it fires warning shots as a crowd-control measure and only aims at people when its troops are threatened. Another Palestinian was killed waiting in crowds for aid trucks in eastern Khan Younis, officials at Nasser Hospital said. The United Nations and other international organizations have been bringing in their own supplies of aid since the war began. The incident did not appear to be connected to GHF operations. Much of Gaza's population of over 2 million now relies on international aid after the war has largely devastated agriculture and other food sources and left many people near famine. Crowds of Palestinians often wait for trucks and unload or loot their contents before they reach their destinations. The trucks must pass through areas under Israeli military control. Israel's military did not immediately comment. American aid workers injured The GHF said the two American aid workers were injured on Saturday morning when assailants threw grenades at a distribution site in Khan Younis. The foundation said the injuries were not life-threatening. Israel's military said it evacuated the workers for medical treatment. The GHF — a US- and Israeli-backed initiative meant to bypass the UN — distributes aid from four sites that are surrounded by Israeli troops. Three sites are in Gaza's far south. The UN and other humanitarian groups have rejected the GHF system, saying it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, violates humanitarian principles and is not effective. Israel says Hamas has siphoned off aid delivered by the UN, a claim the UN denies. Hamas has urged Palestinians not to cooperate with the GHF. GHF, registered in Delaware, began distributing food in May to Palestinians, who say Israeli troops open fire almost every day toward crowds on roads heading to the distribution points. Several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded, according to Gaza's Health Ministry and witnesses. The UN human rights office says it has recorded 613 Palestinians killed within a month in Gaza while trying to obtain aid, most of them while trying to reach GHF sites. The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children. according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is led by medical professionals employed by the Hamas government. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
A boy in Gaza with brain damage fights for his life amid blockade
BEIRUT: It's as if the whole weight of Israel's war in Gaza has fallen on Amr Al-Hams. The 3-year-old has shrapnel in his brain from an Israeli strike on his family's tent. His pregnant mother was killed. His father is paralyzed by grief over the death of his longtime the boy is lying in a hospital bed, unable to speak, unable to move, losing weight, while doctors don't have the supplies to treat his brain damage or help in his rehabilitation after a weekslong blockade and constant out of intensive care, Amr's frail body twists in visible pain. His wide eyes dart around the room. His aunt is convinced he's looking for his mother. He can't speak, but she believes he is trying to say 'mom.''I am trying as much as I can. It is difficult,' said his aunt Nour Al-Hams, his main caregiver, sitting next to him on the bed in Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. 'What he is living through is not easy.'To reassure him, his aunt sometimes says his mother will be back soon. Other times, she tries to distract him, handing him a small war has decimated the health systemThe war began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people captive. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead but does not specify how many were fighters or 21 months into the conflict that displaced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people, it is nearly impossible for the critically wounded to get the care they need, doctors and aid workers health care sector has been decimated: Nearly half of the territory's 36 hospitals have been put out of service. Daily bombings and strikes overwhelm the remaining facilities, which are operating only partially. They struggle with shortages of anything from fuel, gauze and sutures to respirators or scanners that have broken down and can't be forces have raided and besieged medical facilities, claiming Hamas militants have used them as command centers. Doctors have been killed or were displaced, unable to reach hospitals because of continued military more than 2 1/2 months, Israel blocked all food, medicine and other supplies from entering Gaza, accusing Hamas of siphoning off aid to fund its military activities, though the UN said there was no systematic diversion. The population was pushed toward mid-May, Israel has allowed in a trickle of aid, including medical Health Ministry estimates that 33,000 children have been injured during the war, including 5,000 requiring long-term rehabilitation and critical care. Over 1,000 children, like Amr, are suffering from brain or spinal injuries or amputated limbs.'Gaza will be dealing with future generations of kids living with all sorts of disabilities, not just brain, but limb disabilities that are consequences of amputation that could have been prevented if the health system was not under the pressures it is under, wasn't systematically targeted and destroyed as it was,' said Tanya Hajj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care specialist who has volunteered multiple times in Gaza with international medical organizations.A fateful journey northIn April, one week before her due date, Amr's mother, Inas, persuaded her husband to visit her parents in northern Gaza. They trekked from the tent they lived in on Gaza's southern coast to the tent where her parents were having an evening meal when the strike hit. Amr's mother and her unborn baby, his grandfather and his brother and sister were was rushed to the ICU at Indonesian Hospital, the largest in northern Gaza. A scan confirmed shrapnel in his brain and reduced brain function. A breathing tube was inserted into his throat.'He is 3. Why should he bear the weight of a rocket?' his aunt father, Mohammed, was too stunned to even visit the ICU. His wife had been the love of his life since childhood, the aunt said. He barely said Amr needed advanced rehabilitation. But while he was at the hospital, Israeli forces attacked the facility — encircling its premises and causing damage to its communication towers, water supplies and one of its wards. Evacuation orders were issued for the area, and patients were transferred to Shifa Hospital in Gaza treacherous journeyBut Shifa was overwhelmed with mass casualties, and staff asked the family to take Amr south, even though no ambulances or oxygen tanks could be father and aunt had to take Amr, fresh out of ICU with the tube in his throat, in a motorized rickshaw for the 25-kilometer (15-mile) drive to Nasser was in pain, his oxygen levels dropped. He was in and out of consciousness. 'We were reading the Qur'an all along the road,' said his aunt, praying they would survive the bombings and Amr the bumpy trip without medical halfway, an ambulance arrived. Amr made it to Nasser Hospital with oxygen blood levels so low he was again admitted to to get the care he needsStill, Nasser Hospital could not provide Amr with everything he needed. Intravenous nutrients are not available, Nasser's head of pediatrics, Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra, said. The fortified milk Amr needed disappeared from the market and the hospital after weeks of Israel's blockade. He has lost about half his he came out of the ICU, Nour shared his bed with him at night and administered his medication. She grinds rice or lentils into a paste to feed him through a syringe connected to his stomach.'We have starvation in Gaza. There is nothing to eat,' said his aunt, who is a trained nurse. 'There is nothing left.'The care Amr has missed is likely to have long-term effects. Immediate care for brain injuries is critical, Hajj-Hassan said, as is follow-up physical and speech the Israeli blockade on Gaza began in March, 317 patients, including 216 children, have left the territory for medical treatment alongside nearly 500 of their companions, according to the World Health 10,000 people, including 2,500 children, await is one of the Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs in Gaza, coordinates medical evacuations after receiving requests from countries that will take the patients and security screenings. In recent weeks, over 2,000 patients and their companions have left for treatment, COGAT said, without specifying the time Ingram, spokesperson for the UN children's agency, said the only hope for many critically injured who remain in Gaza is to get out. Countries need to 'open their hearts, open their doors and open their hospitals to children who survived the unimaginable and are now languishing in pain,' she aunt reads his every move. He is unhappy with his diapers, she said. He outgrew them long ago. He was a smart kid, now he cries 'feeling sorry for himself,' said Nour. He gets seizures and needs tranquilizers to sleep.'His brain is still developing. What can they do for him? Will he be able to walk again?' Nour asked. 'So long as he is in Gaza, there is no recovery for him.'
Arab News
12 hours ago
- Arab News
What new research reveals about Gaza's real death toll — and why it's far higher than official figures
LONDON: Since October 2023, Israel has been waging two parallel wars in Gaza: One, to destroy Hamas and rescue its hostages; the other, a propaganda campaign designed to discredit the tally of civilian fatalities issued by the Gaza Ministry of Health. However, as new independent research suggests, far from exaggerating the number of deaths since Israel began its retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, the Gaza Ministry of Health appears to have been significantly underestimating them. According to the latest tally from the Ministry of Health, the total number of Palestinians killed since the war began is now approaching 55,000, with a further 126,000 injured. A paper published by a team of researchers in the US, UK, Norway and Belgium, working in collaboration with the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Gaza, shows the death toll is likely far higher. As of January 5 this year, it found the total number of violent deaths over the course of the conflict had already reached 75,200. This figure, derived independently of the Ministry of Health, is based on an exhaustive household survey, which revealed another disturbing statistic about the war in Gaza. In addition to the 75,200 violent deaths, the survey highlighted a further 8,540 non-violent deaths caused by indirect factors, including disease, hunger, and loss of access to medical treatment and medication. That brings the total number of deaths resulting from the war in Gaza since October 2023 to 83,740. 'Our estimate for the number of violent deaths far exceeds the figures from the Ministry of Health,' said Michael Spagat, a professor of economics at Royal Holloway College, University of London, the lead author of the study and chairman of the board of trustees of the UK charity Every Casualty Counts. 'The implication of this is that the ministry has not been exaggerating the number of violent deaths.' • 75,200 Violent deaths resulting from the war in Gaza. • 8,540 Non-violent deaths caused by indirect factors. • 83,740 Total number of deaths since October 2023. (Source: Gaza Mortality Survey) The ministry has also been accused of falsifying the number of children killed in Israeli attacks. But 'the demographics of the ministry's figures seem to be about right,' said Spagat. 'The proportion of women, elderly, and children among the dead in its figures is consistent with what we found.' The new research estimates that 56 percent of those killed between October 2023 and January this year — 42,200 of the total 75,200 victims — were either women, children, or those aged over 65. More than half of these (22,800) were children under the age of 18, meaning that almost one in three of those killed in Gaza up to January this year was a child. The Gaza Mortality Survey, which in line with standard academic procedure received ethical pre-approval from the University of London and obtained informed consent from each respondent, was conducted between Dec. 30, 2024, and Jan. 5, 2025. Ten two-person teams from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, tracked by GPS and real-time monitoring, conducted face-to-face questionnaire-based interviews, which were recorded on tablets and phones, and uploaded data instantly to a secure central server. The survey teams visited a sample of 2,000 households, representative of prewar Gaza, and collected information about the 'vital status' of 9,729 household members and their newborn children — including whether they were alive or dead and, if dead, how they had died. The survey, said Spagat, 'would have been impossible without the support of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. 'First of all, we would not have been let into Gaza, but our partner was already there. They have experienced survey researchers in Gaza, and they were the ones who conducted the interviews. 'Also crucial was that this organization has been tracking population movements since the war began. If we were doing a survey in Gaza under stable conditions, we would have a list of where people are, based on the last census. But there has been so much displacement the census-based list was of limited value.' Instead, because it has been tracking population movements throughout the war, the PCPSR was able to identify 200 sample sites sheltering internally displaced people which reflected the distribution of pre-2023 populations, including in the now inaccessible areas of northern Gaza, Gaza City, and Rafah. As with all such research, all the numbers come with a cautionary 'confidence interval' — a margin of error that shows the possible range of figures, allowing for under- and overestimation. For the total number of violent deaths estimated by the survey, this gives a range of between 63,600 and 86,800. 'Even the lowest figure is a big number, and about 16,000 above the comparable Ministry of Health figure at the time of the survey,' said Spagat. 'We have tried to draw conclusions that we are quite confident won't get overturned by further research, and one of our conclusions is that the Ministry of Health is not capturing all of the deaths in Gaza and that there is a substantial degree of undercount there.' He added: 'Our estimate for the number of children killed (22,800) is shockingly high, and well above the Ministry of Health figure.' Taking into account the survey's confidence interval, the number of child deaths could range from a low of 16,700 to as many as 28,800. And at either end of that scale, said Spagat, 'that is an awful lot of children.' It is, he said, 'possible that the true number of total violent deaths is even below the bottom of our confidence interval, but it's extremely unlikely to be so far below it that it would overturn our conclusion that the Ministry of Health is not capturing all of the deaths.' He is anxious that the survey's conclusions should in no way be seen as a criticism of the Ministry of Health, 'which has had a lot on its plate.' In fact, although the ministry's tally is not fully comprehensive — it has, for instance, yet to compile or release figures for non-violent war-related deaths, which this survey has revealed for the first time — Spagat said its work should be highly commended. Despite the constant criticism by Israel and its supporters, the work it is doing, under extreme conditions, 'is exceptionally transparent,' he said. 'For each person they're saying is dead, they're listing a name and they're listing a national ID number, a sex, and age.' The first list of the dead was released by the ministry in October last year, in response to accusations that it was making up the numbers killed by Israel. One factor that has been widely overlooked by critics of the ministry's figures is the significance of the ID numbers. 'It's the Israelis who maintain the population register for the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, so at a minimum, they can take that list and they can check to verify that everyone listed on it is a real person,' said Spagat. 'They must have done some checking like this, and I've got to believe that if the Ministry of Health was just making up names Israel would have made that known.' Ultimately, Spagat believes, the lists being compiled by Gaza's Ministry of Health 'will serve as a memorial for the people who are killed in a way that just recording a number can't. By listing people individually, you are recording some semblance of who they were as human beings.' The model for this, he said, was the Kosovo Memory Book, an exhaustive record of all those killed, missing, or disappeared in the fighting between 1998 and 2000, compiled by the Humanitarian Law Center in Kosovo. This record, say its authors, 'calls everyone to pause in front of it, to read each name and find out who these people were and how they died. It urges people to remember people.' In time, it adds, 'when the data on the fate of those who are still missing are finally obtained … the Kosovo Memory Book will have become the most reliable witness to our recent past.' When peace finally comes to Gaza, said Spagat, 'I hope there will be funding for research on this scale (based) on the really good foundations being laid by the Ministry of Health.'
