Israeli Fire Kills 41 People in Gaza
Gaza's civil defense agency reported 41 people killed in Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory Saturday, more than half of whom it said were killed while waiting for aid.
"Forty-one people were martyred due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, 23 of whom were waiting for aid," Mohammad al-Mughayyir, an official from the agency, told AFP.
The Israeli military did not respond to AFP's request for comment.
Israeli restrictions on media in Gaza and the difficulties of access on the ground mean AFP is unable to independently verify the casualty tolls provided by the civil defense agency.
Central Gaza's Al-Awda hospital received eight bodies and 125 wounded after Israeli drone strikes targeted people gathering near an aid distribution center near the Netzarim corridor, Mughayyir said.
Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital received 11 bodies after an attack on people seeking aid on Saturday, he added, while four others were taken to the Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza and Nasser hospital in the south.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution points since the US- and Israel-backed organization began operating in late May, according to the civil defense agency.
An officially private effort with opaque funding, the GHF began operating on May 26 after Israel cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months, sparking international condemnation and warnings of imminent famine.
Mughayyir said that 18 people were killed in the north and south of the territory during various attacks by the Israeli army, including seven in Gaza City.
The Gaza Strip has been ravaged by more than 20 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, with the situation continuing to deteriorate on the ground.
Nasser Hospital, one of the last partly functioning health facilities, has been targeted by Israeli strikes in recent days, according to medical sources who spoke to AFP.
AFP journalists on the ground reported that internet and fixed line communications were down in Gaza for the third consecutive day.
The Palestinian Authority's telecommunications ministry said Thursday that Israeli forces targeted a fiber optic cable, triggering the outage.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
18 hours ago
- Arab News
How news from the Middle East is shaping Gen Z's mental well-being
DUBAI: Gen Z — those born between the late 1990s and early 2010s — consumes more news than any other type of content, according to a new study unveiled by the UNICEF-led Global Coalition for Youth Mental Health — a finding that many may find surprising. What is less surprising, however, is the emotional toll that constant exposure to global headlines appears to be taking on young people. The study, based on a survey of more than 5,600 people aged 14 to 25 globally, found that 60 percent of Zoomers reported feeling overwhelmed by the news. Despite these pressures, they remain determined to contribute to shaping a better future. In a statement to Arab News, Dr. Zeinab Hijazi, UNICEF's global lead on mental health, said such anxieties are shaped by a combination of geopolitical conflict, climate and ecological crisis, and economic uncertainty. 'For many, especially young people, the weight of these overlapping crises is not abstract — it's deeply personal, showing up in their minds, their bodies, and their sense of hope for the future,' said Hijazi. The study, which was unveiled at the Social Innovation Summit in San Francisco, raises concerns that feelings of being overwhelmed and disempowered may be eroding young people's sense of agency. This is hindering their ability to help shape the future they envision for themselves and generations to come. This impact on mental health is compounded, the study states, by inadequate support and services available to young people. 'It can feel as though we are caught in a constant storm of challenges, with little control over the forces shaping our world,' said Hijazi. Given its serious repercussions, Hijazi emphasized that mental health should not be treated as a side effect of global disruption, but as a central pillar of collective efforts to empower youth in shaping a better future. While Gen Z tends to feel connected and engaged with world events, around 67 percent of the global cohort reported feeling overwhelmed after exposure to news or events in the world, more than news in their country (60 percent) or their community (40 percent). Escalating geopolitical tensions and instability in the Middle East, particularly since the onset of Israel's latest war on Gaza in 2023, have raised concerns among analysts about the long-term impact on youth and the potential for fomenting extremism in times of unrest and uncertainty. Psychologists and media analysts believe that exposure to such news through social media platforms also increases the emotional toll on young users. Dr. Shaima Al-Fardan, a UAE-based clinical psychologist, highlighted the impact of constant exposure to news and endless scrolling on youth development. 'It can isolate youth from real-life social interactions, which in turn hinders the development of essential social skills. It also consistently heightens negative emotions, reinforcing those emotional patterns over time.' According to Attest, a consumer research platform, social media platforms serve as the primary news source for Gen Z. About 43 percent said they rely on social media for daily news, with TikTok leading for 21 percent of users. While instant access to content across digital platforms can broaden young people's awareness of global events, Al-Fardan warned that it also exposes them to misinformation and propaganda. 'It is important to be taught to be critical about news they consume at this time due to their brain development, as they have still not been able to fully form the part of their brain that is responsible for rational decision-making in order to form solid opinions,' she said. However, she observed that while young people often respond with strong initial reactions, they may quickly become desensitized. 'Social media has created a culture of following trends, which makes engagement inconsistent,' she said. The short, fast-paced nature of social media content may intensify young people's negative emotional responses to world events. Elizabeth Matar, assistant professor and chair of Media and Mass Communication at the American University in the Emirates, told Arab News social media platforms have expanded information sources but not necessarily deepened users' understanding, especially on evolving issues. 'When users are following the news from a media outlet on social media, they only get a headline with an image or video clip and a caption, which does not give the full nuance from reading a full article,' said Matar. 'This is causing a problem because it just feels like headlines and just information coming in without understanding much of the context or forming an ability to piece it together.' She added that this 'flood of information,' compounded by inputs from non-traditional news sources such as citizen journalists, can lead to a general sense of uncertainty, deepened by the limited depth of understanding. 'The quality, in contrast to quantity, of engagement with the news must be monitored,' said Matar. 'Only then we can understand if deeper engagement with content would have the same negative effect.' Despite growing awareness and open conversations around mental health in the digital age, many young people continue to face stigma and limited access to support services — even as their familiarity with the topic increases. A UNICEF-led study found that 40 percent of respondents felt stigmatized when speaking openly about mental health in schools and workplaces, while only half said they knew where to access relevant support resources. Despite resource availability, the study findings showed that many young people still lacked clarity on where to turn for help and how to build effective coping skills. Al-Fardan said that access to mental health resources remains limited due to affordability and lack of insurance. She also observed a lack of understanding about what psychotherapy involves. 'There is a limited amount of culturally attuned, affordable, skilled therapists around as well,' she said. 'In addition, many people are either unaware or hesitant to share their views, particularly when it comes to processing political information during times of unrest.' Warning of the long-term impact of unguided online news consumption, Al-Fardan said: 'Without boundaries on excessive scrolling, negative thought patterns in the brain can be reinforced, influencing one's outlook on life and overall functioning. 'This can contribute to mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression, increased social isolation, and a lack of essential skills needed to integrate into society.' Education and media literacy are key to addressing these challenges, along with building healthy habits, monitoring exposure, and setting boundaries around social media use. UNICEF's Hijazi stressed that ensuring mental health support for young people should be a responsibility shared by governments, schools, employers and the private sector. 'Understanding perception is the first step toward meaningful action,' she said. 'If we can listen more deeply — not just to the facts, but to the feelings — we can begin to design and scale solutions that are grounded in empathy and centered on human well-being.'
Arab News
19 hours ago
- Arab News
The vanishing hospitals of Gaza
In Gaza, hospitals are no longer sanctuaries, they have become battlegrounds, targets and, ultimately, ruins. What is unfolding in the besieged Palestinian enclave is not only a humanitarian catastrophe of staggering proportions but also a chilling case study in how healthcare systems can be weaponized and dismantled by modern warfare. Since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, the destruction of healthcare infrastructure has been relentless and systematic. More than 30 hospitals and over 100 clinics have either been bombed into oblivion, rendered inoperable or forcibly evacuated under military siege. Medical professionals have been killed or detained. Patients, including premature infants, have been left without life-sustaining care. This is not collateral damage. It is a strategy. Health is no longer a neutral domain in Gaza, it is a front line. The war has transformed symbols of life — ambulances, operating rooms and maternity wards — into graveyards. And the implications of this reach far beyond the borders of Gaza. Before the current war, Gaza's healthcare system was already strained under a crippling blockade that had lasted more than 15 years. Hospitals operated with limited medical supplies, outdated equipment and intermittent electricity. Since the war erupted, this fragile system has collapsed entirely. According to the World Health Organization, more than 70 percent of Gaza's hospitals are now nonfunctional. Those that remain open are overwhelmed, operating far beyond their intended capacities and under conditions that violate every international standard for medical care. Doctors work around the clock in makeshift wards with no anesthesia available, often performing surgeries by flashlight. Dialysis machines, neonatal incubators and radiology labs sit silent and unused, without power or maintenance. Worse still, humanitarian convoys carrying essential medical supplies are often denied entry to the territory or delayed by weeks, if not months. Health workers, already operating in near-impossible circumstances, have become some of the most vulnerable targets: bombed while treating patients, arrested while transferring the wounded and demonized in military discourse. The deliberate targeting of healthcare infrastructure in Gaza is not an accident of war; it is a tactic. By eroding the medical system, the aggressor aims to inflict maximum psychological and physical damage, creating unlivable conditions that push communities into despair or displacement. Such a strategy is not without precedent, but the sheer scale and intensity in Gaza are especially egregious. International law, including the Geneva Conventions, specifically protects medical facilities and personnel during conflict. The pattern of attacks on hospitals, coupled with restrictions on medical aid and the demonization of health workers as combatants or 'human shields,' amounts to a gross violation of these laws. Hospitals are not only buildings, they are lifelines. When you target them, you are targeting civilians in their most vulnerable moments. You are turning the struggle for survival into an impossible equation: no safety, no treatment, no hope. The collapse of Gaza's healthcare system is measured in lives lost, many of them children. With neonatal units shut down, babies die for lack of oxygen or incubators. Cancer patients go without chemotherapy. Diabetics and cardiac patients die quietly in their homes without access to medication. The World Health Organization has warned that the number of preventable deaths now rivals those caused directly by airstrikes. This is not collateral damage. It is a strategy. Health is no longer a neutral domain in Gaza, it is a front line. Hani Hazaimeh This is not just a war on infrastructure, it is a war on the human body, on public health and on the very notion that life is sacred. And it is unfolding in full view of the world. The destruction of Gaza's healthcare system does not stop at the enclave's borders. Its collapse creates ripple effects across the region. Neighboring countries, such as Egypt and Jordan, face increased pressure to absorb patients, deliver aid and manage the fallout of what is now a transnational public health crisis. Jordan, in particular, has stepped up in recent months, sending field hospitals, medical teams and convoys of humanitarian aid. King Abdullah has repeatedly sounded the alarm, reminding the world that the health crisis in Gaza does not exist in isolation — it is a test of international morality and a bellwether for regional stability. The Jordanian people have also rallied in unprecedented numbers, organizing blood drives, fundraising efforts and public campaigns to highlight the suffering in Gaza. But no neighboring country can fully offset the collapse of a healthcare system that has been deliberately and systematically destroyed. The region is watching a disaster unfold in slow motion, aware that its consequences will not be confined to Gaza. The failure of the international community to respond robustly to the destruction of Gaza's health infrastructure is a stain on the global conscience. Condemnations have been tepid, investigations stalled and aid commitments have been drowned in bureaucratic inertia. The UN and the International Criminal Court have the legal and moral mandates to act, but political calculations continue to override justice. Fear of diplomatic fallout, pressure from powerful allies and a reluctance to confront uncomfortable truths have paralyzed the prospects for meaningful action. As a result, accountability is deferred, impunity is emboldened and the deliberate targeting of hospitals has become a tragic precedent rather than an international red line. The state of a society can often be measured by the state of its hospitals. In Gaza, that measure is grim. The intentional collapse of the healthcare system reflects not only the brutality of war but also the erosion of the international will to uphold basic human rights. Gaza's vanishing hospitals must not be normalized. They are not only brick-and-mortar structures, they are sacred spaces meant to protect life. Their destruction is a war on life itself.
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
France offers to help make Gaza food distribution safer
France 'stands ready, Europe as well, to contribute to the safety of food distribution' in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Saturday. His comments came as criticism grew over mounting civilian deaths at Israeli-backed food distribution centers in the territory. Such an initiative, he added, would also deal with Israeli concerns that armed groups such as Hamas were getting hold of the aid. Barrot expressed anger over 'the 500 people who have lost their life in food distribution' in Gaza in recent weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday denounced as a 'blood libel' a report in left-leaning daily Haaretz alleging that military commanders had ordered soldiers to fire at Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza Aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday denounced the Israel- and US-backed food distribution effort in Gaza as 'slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid.' And UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that hungry people in Gaza seeking food must not face a 'death sentence.' The health ministry in Gaza, a territory controlled by Hamas, says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.
