More than 100 aid groups warn of starvation in Gaza as Israeli strikes kill 29, officials say
Israel says it allows enough aid into the territory and faults delivery efforts by UN agencies, which say they are hindered by Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of security.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 50 hostages it holds, around 20 of them believed to be alive, in exchange for a lasting cease-fire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel has vowed to recover all the captives and continue the war until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed.
In an open letter, 115 organizations, including major international aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corps, and Save the Children, said they were watching their colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away.'
The letter blamed Israeli restrictions and 'massacres' at aid-distribution points. Witnesses, health officials, and the UN human rights office say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on crowds seeking aid, killing more than 1,000 people. Israel says its forces have only fired warning shots and that the death toll is exaggerated.
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The Israeli government's 'restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,' the letter said.
WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed that criticism, telling reporters that acute malnutrition centers in Gaza are full of patients and lack adequate supplies. He said rates of acute malnutrition exceed 10 percent and that among pregnant and breastfeeding women, more than 20 percent are malnourished, often severely.
The UN health agency's representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, said there were more than 30,000 children under 5 with acute malnutrition in Gaza and that the WHO had reports that at least 21 children under 5 have died so far this year.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected the criticism in the open letter and accused the groups of 'echoing Hamas' propaganda.' It said it has allowed around 4,500 aid trucks into Gaza since lifting a complete blockade in May, and that more than 700 trucks are waiting to be picked up and distributed by the UN.
That's an average of around 70 trucks a day, the lowest rate of the war and far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the UN says are needed, and which entered during a six-week cease-fire earlier this year.
The UN says it has struggled to deliver aid inside Gaza because of Israeli military restrictions, ongoing fighting, and a breakdown of law and order. An alternative system established by Israel and an American contractor has been marred by violence and controversy.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Witkoff was headed to Europe to meet with key leaders from the Middle East to discuss the latest cease-fire proposal and release of hostages.
'We want this cease-fire to happen as soon as possible, and we want these hostages to be released,' Leavitt said.
An official familiar with the negotiations said Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was traveling to Rome to meet Witkoff on Thursday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive negotiations.
The evolving deal is expected to include a 60-day cease-fire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up, and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting truce.
Israel has continued to carry out waves of daily airstrikes against what it says are militant targets but which often kill women and children. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas.
One of the overnight strikes hit a house in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The dead included six children and two women, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it struck an Islamic Jihad militant, and that the incident was under review because of reports of civilian casualties.
Shifa said another strike late Tuesday in Gaza City killed three children.
A strike on an apartment in northern Gaza killed at least six people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant, the ministry said. The military said it struck a Hamas operative.
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In central Gaza, a strike in a densely populated part of the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp killed eight people and wounded 57, according to Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.
Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attack and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. 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 UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel's military says airdrops of aid will begin Saturday night in Gaza
Israel's military has announced that airdrops of aid will begin on Saturday night in Gaza, and humanitarian corridors will be established for UN convoys, after increasing accounts of starvation-related deaths. The statement late Saturday followed months of experts' warnings of famine. International criticism, including by close allies, has grown as several hundred Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while trying to reach aid. The military's statement did not say when the humanitarian corridors for UN convoys would open, or where. It also said the military is prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas. The statement added that the military 'emphasises that combat operations have not ceased' in Gaza against Hamas and it said there is 'no starvation' in the territory. Witness accounts from Gaza have been grim. Some health workers are so weakened by hunger that they put themselves on IV drips to keep treating the badly malnourished. Parents have shown their limp and emaciated children. The Israeli military statement said the airdrops would be conducted in co-ordination with international aid organisations. It was not immediately clear where they would be carried out and it was not clear what role the recently created and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, meant as an alternative to the UN aid system, might play. Israeli airstrikes and gunshots killed at least 53 people in Gaza overnight and into Saturday, most of them shot dead while seeking aid, according to Palestinian health officials and the local ambulance service. Deadly Israeli gunfire was reported twice within hours close to the Zikim crossing with Israel in the north. In the first incident, at least a dozen people waiting for aid trucks were killed, said staff at Shifa hospital, where bodies were taken. Israel's military said it fired warning shots to distance a crowd 'in response to an immediate threat' and it was not aware of any casualties. A witness, Sherif Abu Aisha, said people started running when they saw a light that they thought was from aid trucks, but as they got close, they realised it was Israel's tanks. That is when the army started firing, he told The Associated Press. He said his uncle was among those killed. 'We went because there is no food and nothing was distributed,' he said. On Saturday evening, Israeli forces killed at least 11 people and wounded 120 others when they fired toward crowds who tried to get food from an entering UN convoy, Dr Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa hospital, told the AP. 'We are expecting the numbers to surge in the next few hours,' he said. There was no immediate Israeli military comment. Elsewhere, those killed in strikes included four people in an apartment building in Gaza City, hospital staff and the ambulance service said. Another Israeli strike killed at least eight, including four children, in the crowded tent camp of Muwasi in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to the Nasser hospital. Also in Khan Younis, Israeli forces opened fire and killed at least nine people trying to get aid entering Gaza through the Morag corridor, according to the hospital's morgue records. There was no immediate comment from Israel's military. Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas were at a standstill after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams on Thursday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday his government was considering 'alternative options' to ceasefire talks. A Hamas official, however, said negotiations were expected to resume next week and called the recall of the delegations a pressure tactic. Egypt and Qatar, which mediate alongside the United States, called the pause temporary and said talks would resume. They did not say when.
USA Today
17 minutes ago
- USA Today
Israel to resume airdrop aid to Gaza, military says
Israel has faced mounting criticism from aid agencies, which accuse it of restricting aid delivery. July 26 (Reuters) - Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave. "The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations," the military added in a statement. The military also said that designated humanitarian corridors would be established to enable the safe movement of United Nations convoys delivering aid to the Gaza population, and that humanitarian pauses would be implemented in densely populated areas. Israel has faced mounting criticism from aid agencies, which accuse it of restricting aid delivery. The World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the crisis as "man-made mass starvation." Israel, which cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's 2.2 million people. Israel has also accused the United Nations of failing to act in a timely fashion, saying 700 truckloads of aid were idling inside Gaza. "The IDF emphasizes that there is no starvation in the Gaza Strip; this is a false campaign promoted by Hamas," the Israeli military said in its July 26 statement. "Responsibility for food distribution to the population in Gaza lies with the UN and international aid organizations. Therefore, the UN and international organizations are expected to improve the effectiveness of aid distribution and to ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas." More than 125 people have died due to malnutrition, including 85 children, the Gaza Health Ministry said. (Reporting by Hatem Maher, Enas Alashray, Emily Rose and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Israel's military says airdrops of aid will begin Saturday night in Gaza
The statement added that the military 'emphasizes that combat operations have not ceased' in Gaza against Hamas. And it asserts there is 'no starvation' in the territory. Advertisement Israeli airstrikes and gunshots killed at least 53 people in Gaza overnight and into Saturday, most of them shot dead while seeking aid, according to Palestinian health officials and the local ambulance service, as starvation deaths continued. Deadly Israeli gunfire was reported twice within hours close to the Zikim crossing with Israel in the north. In the first incident, at least a dozen people waiting for aid trucks were killed, said staff at Shifa hospital, where bodies were taken. Israel's military said it fired warning shots to distance a crowd 'in response to an immediate threat' and it was not aware of any casualties. A witness, Sherif Abu Aisha, said people started running when they saw a light that they thought was from aid trucks, but as they got close, they realized it was Israel's tanks. That's when the army started firing, he told The Associated Press. He said his uncle was among those killed. Advertisement 'We went because there is no food ... and nothing was distributed,' he said. On Saturday evening, Israeli forces killed at least 11 people and wounded 120 others when they fired toward crowds who tried to get food from an entering U.N. convoy, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa hospital, told the AP. 'We are expecting the numbers to surge in the next few hours,' he said. There was no immediate Israeli military comment. Elsewhere, those killed in strikes included four people in an apartment building in Gaza City, hospital staff and the ambulance service said. Another Israeli strike killed at least eight, including four children, in the crowded tent camp of Muwasi in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to the Nasser hospital. Also in Khan Younis, Israeli forces opened fire and killed at least nine people trying to get aid entering Gaza through the Morag corridor, according to the hospital's morgue records. There was no immediate comment from Israel's military. Stalled ceasefire talks Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas were at a standstill after the U.S. and Israel recalled negotiating teams on Thursday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering 'alternative options' to ceasefire talks. A Hamas official, however, said negotiations were expected to resume next week and called the recall of the delegations a pressure tactic. Egypt and Qatar, which mediate alongside the United States, called the pause temporary and said talks would resume. They did not say when. 'Our loved ones do not have time for another round of negotiations, and they will not survive another partial deal,' said Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, one of 50 still in Gaza from Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Mor spoke at a weekly rally in Tel Aviv. Advertisement Children starving to death The U.N. and experts say Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine. And now children with no preexisting conditions have begun to starve to death. 'We only want enough food to end our hunger,' said Wael Shaaban at a charity kitchen in Gaza City as he tried to feed his family of six. While Israel's army says it's allowing aid into the enclave with no limit on the trucks that can enter, the U.N. says it is hampered by military restrictions on its movements and criminal looting. The Hamas-run police had provided security for aid delivery, but it has been unable to operate after being targeted by airstrikes. Israel on Saturday said over 250 trucks carrying aid from the U.N. and other organizations entered Gaza this week. About 600 trucks entered per day during the latest ceasefire that Israel ended in March. Saturday's Zikim shootings came days after at least 80 Palestinians were killed trying to reach aid entering through the crossing, one of the deadliest days for aid-seekers in 21 months of war. Israel faces growing international pressure. More than two dozen Western-aligned countries and over 100 charity and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, harshly criticizing Israel's blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food, mostly near the new aid sites run by an American contractor, the U.N. human rights office says. Advertisement The charities and rights groups said their own staff struggled to get enough food. 'Stand for Gaza, for silence is a crime, and indifference is a betrayal of humanity,' said Father Issa Thaljieh, a Greek Orthodox priest at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, as religious figures and the mayor called for prayers to end the war. Turning to airdrops, with a warning For the first time in months, Israel said it is allowing airdrops, requested by neighboring Jordan. A Jordanian official said the airdrops mainly will be food and milk formula. The United Arab Emirates said airdrops would start 'immediately.' Britain plans to work with partners to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said. But the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, warned that airdrops are 'expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians' and won't reverse the increasing starvation or prevent aid diversion. More than 59,700 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. 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 ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Magdy reported from Cairo.
