The Latest: Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 21 people, health authorities say
Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor, the U.N. human rights office said Tuesday.
More than 100 human rights groups and charities signed a letter published Wednesday demanding more aid for Gaza and warning of grim conditions causing starvation.
More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Here is the latest:
Overnight strikes kill at least 21
One Israeli strike hit a house Tuesday in the northwestern side of Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to the Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties.
The dead included six children and two women, according to the Health Ministry's casualty list.
Another strike hit an apartment in the Tal al-Hawa area in northern Gaza, killing at least six people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant. Eight others were wounded, the ministry said.
A third strike hit a tent in the Naser neighborhood in Gaza City late Tuesday and killed three children, Shifa Hospital said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants operate from populated areas.
Human rights groups and charities demand more Gaza aid
In the letter issued Wednesday by 109 human rights and charity groups, they warned of a dire situation pushing more people toward starvation. They said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away.'
The letter slammed Israel for what it said were restrictions on aid into the war-ravaged territory. It lamented 'massacres' at food distribution points, which have seen chaos and violence in recent weeks as desperation has risen.
'The government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,' the letter said.
The letter called for aid to be scaled up as well as for a ceasefire. `
Israel says that it has allowed the entry of thousands of trucks since May and blames aid groups for not consistently delivering goods.
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Daily Mirror
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Heartbreaking images of Gaza kids on brink of death can no longer be ignored
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And as yet more horrific images of emaciated children on the brink of death emerge, the call for action to end the suffering of Palestinians in the face of relentless Israeli attacks and blockades grows. In one haunting image, Muhammed Zakariya Ayyub al-Matouk – a tragic sight of skin and bones – clings to his desperate mum in a tent in Gaza City where there is no access to milk, food, or basic necessities. The one-and-a-half-year-old is just one of an estimated 70,000 children said by medics to be in a state of starvation – and up to 28 are believed to be dying every day. Gaza's hospitals yesterday reported nine more deaths from hunger in 24 hours, bringing the total to 122 since the war started. In another harrowing picture, Yezen Abu Ful, two, lies helpless at the Al-Shati Refugee Camp, waiting for food many know may never come until it is too late. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the world not to ignore the crisis. He said: 'I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we see by too many in the international community. The lack of compassion, the lack of truth, the lack of humanity.' Gaza-based journalist Noor al-Shana told how desperate Palestinians are 'tired of empty expressions of solidarity' – as the death toll in the strip hit 59,587. She said: 'We don't want just words, we want actions. There are thousands of children dying now and no one is doing anything. The world is saying 'Free Palestine'. We don't want words, we want solutions.' World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Israel 's actions in Gaza were causing 'man-made mass starvation'. Parents are going without food themselves for days in a bid to save their stricken children. Unicef and other agencies warned Gaza will run out of the therapeutic food needed to save the lives of severely malnourished children by mid-August unless aid is restored. 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But the babies and their mother could still face problems if they need any more medical care, equipment and drugs fast running out due to the Israeli blockade. Pregnant women are now too malnourished to stand, and even doctors are facing starvation. The women are having operations without anaesthetics. Nurses have to squeeze three or four babies into a single incubator. Doctors have reported a huge increase in miscarriages. Medics at hospitals such as Al Awda in northern Gaza are risking their lives to keep services going. More than 1,500 health workers have been killed while half of all hospitals have had to shut down. Aid workers, too, are suffering from a lack of food. The UN claims at least 100,000 Palestinians are starving. President Emmanuel Macron said France will recognise Palestine as a state immediately, piling pressure on Mr Starmer. A third of MPs in the Commons signed the letter to the PM demanding he follow suit. 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The Guardian
3 hours ago
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In May, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wrote about the desperate situation facing journalists in Gaza, who were having to report while dangerously hungry. My colleagues documented the gnawing hunger, dizziness, brain fog and sickness all experienced by an exhausted Palestinian press corps already living and working in terrifying conditions. Eight weeks later, that desperate situation is now catastrophic. Several news organizations are now warning that their journalists – those documenting what is happening inside Gaza – will die unless urgent action is taken to stop Israel's deliberate refusal to allow sufficient food into the territory. 'Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us can recall seeing a colleague die of hunger,' an association of journalists from the Agence France-Presse wrote in a statement on Monday. 'We refuse to watch them die.' 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Starvation is its latest and terrible manifestation, but we must be clear that the threats facing journalists in Gaza are not new – nor is the international community's abject failure to address them. More journalists and media workers were killed in 2024 than in any other year since CPJ began keeping records. Nearly two-thirds of all those killed in 2024 were Palestinians killed by Israel. There has been no accountability for any of these killings, despite evidence of numerous targeted attacks. Very few of these journalists chose to become war correspondents. They are war correspondents because war is their daily, inescapable reality. They report because there is no one else to do so as Israel continues to refuse access to journalists from outside Gaza to the territory, a refusal that is without precedent in the history of modern warfare. These restrictions on international access place an unbearable burden on those who are forced to remain and bear witness. CPJ has documented the deliberate targeting of journalists; their offices have been bombed, their homes destroyed. They have been forced to move repeatedly, finding shelter in flimsy tents. They struggle with frequent communications blackouts and damaged equipment. They are barred from leaving Gaza and evacuation is all but impossible, even with life-threatening and life-altering injuries. Unlike in other ongoing conflicts, such as Ukraine, which also has a high number of domestic reporters who now report on and from a war zone, Gaza's journalists have no colleagues who can replace them from elsewhere, who can provide them with much-needed rest and respite. Now these journalists are starving to death before our eyes. The international community has the information it needs to act to reverse this course. We know what is happening in Gaza. We know because of the journalists who have documented the attacks at aid stations, who have filmed the starving children and the bombed hospitals, and who are now recording their own demise. There is an adage in journalism circles that explains reporters' reluctance to write about themselves: No journalist wants to become the story. If we do not act now, there will be no one left in Gaza to tell anyone's story. And that silence – those deaths – will be on us. Jodie Ginsberg is CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists
