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CBS News
a day ago
- General
- CBS News
Israeli military says it has begun airdrops of aid into Gaza amid increased starvation deaths
Airdrops of aid began Saturday night in Gaza, the Israeli military said, amid increased international pressure and accounts of starvation-related deaths in the territory. The Israeli military also said it would establish humanitarian corridors for United Nations convoys. Israel Defense Forces said in a post to Telegram early Sunday local time that it had airdropped humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, according to the Agence France-Presse. "In accordance with the directives of the political echelon, the IDF recently carried out an airdrop of humanitarian aid as part of the ongoing efforts to allow and facilitate the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip," the military posted on Telegram, per AFP. The drop included seven packages of aid containing flour, sugar and canned food, the IDF added. In a previous statement issued Saturday, the IDF said it has begun a series of actions "aimed at improving the humanitarian response" in the territory and to "refute the false claims of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip." The statement came after increasing accounts of starvation-related deaths in Gaza following months of experts' warnings of famine. International criticism, including from close allies, has grown as several hundred Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while trying to reach aid. "The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations," the earlier statement said. The IDF statement did not say when the humanitarian corridors for U.N. convoys would open, or where. The IDF also said it is prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas. The statement also made clear "that combat operations have not ceased" in Gaza against Hamas. And it reiterated the IDF's position that there is "no starvation" in the territory. For months, the United Nations and experts have warned that Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine, with reports of increasing numbers of people dying from causes related to malnutrition. While Israel's army says it's allowing aid into the enclave with no limit on the number of trucks that can enter, the U.N. says it is hampered by Israeli military restrictions on its movements and incidents of criminal looting. Since easing the blockade in May, Israel has allowed in around 4,500 trucks for the U.N. and other aid groups to distribute, including 2,500 tons of baby food and high-calorie special food for children, Israel's Foreign Ministry said last week. 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. Israel is facing increased international pressure to alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza. More than two dozen Western-aligned countries and more than 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. For the first time in months, Israel said it is allowing airdrops, as requested by neighboring Jordan. A Jordanian official said the airdrops will mainly be food and milk formula. Britain plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said Saturday. His office did not give details. "Israel must allow aid in over land to end the starvation unfolding in Gaza," Starmer said in a post on X. "The situation is desperate. We are working with Jordan to get aid into Gaza. We are urgently accelerating efforts to evacuate children who need critical medical assistance to the UK for treatment. I am determined to find a pathway to peace." However, the planned airdrops won't do much to help quench the severe food shortages, the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees warned. "Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X on Saturday. "They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction & screensmoke." He said the "manmade hunger" can only be addressed by Israel lifting the restrictions on aid into Gaza and guaranteeing the "safe movements + dignified access to people in need." At least 53 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes and gunshots overnight and into Saturday, according to Palestinian hospital officials and the local ambulance service on Saturday, as ceasefire talks appear to have stalled. Gunfire killed at least a dozen people waiting for aid trucks close to the Zikim crossing with Israel in the north, 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. "We went because there is no food ... and nothing was distributed," he said. 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 people, including four children, in the crowded tent camp of Muwasi in the city of Khan Younis in the south, according to the Nasser hospital, which received the bodies. 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. The strikes come as ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have hit a standstill after the U.S and Israel recalled their negotiating teams on Thursday, throwing the future of the talks into further uncertainty. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering "alternative options" to ceasefire talks with Hamas. His comments came as a Hamas official said negotiations were expected to resume next week and portrayed the recall of the Israeli and American delegations as a pressure tactic. Egypt and Qatar, which are mediating the talks alongside the United States, said the pause was only temporary and that talks would resume, though they did not say when. For desperate Palestinians, a ceasefire can't come soon enough. The body of 5-month-old Zainab Abu Halib arrived at the pediatric department of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza on Friday. She was already dead. The girl had weighed over 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) when she was born, her mother said. When she died, she weighed less than 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds). A doctor said it was a case of "severe, severe starvation." Zainab was one of 85 children to die of malnutrition-related causes in Gaza in the past three weeks, according to the latest toll released by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry on Saturday. Another 42 adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the same period, the health ministry said. "She needed a special baby formula which did not exist in Gaza," Zainab's father, Ahmed Abu Halib, told The Associated Press. Her mother, who also has suffered from malnutrition, said she breastfed the girl for only six weeks before trying to feed her formula. "With my daughter's death, many will follow," Esraa Abu Halib said. "Their names are on a list that no one looks at. They are just names and numbers. We are just numbers. Our children, whom we carried for nine months and then gave birth to, have become just numbers." More than 100 people have died in Gaza from malnutrition since the war started, UNICEF said on Thursday, and 80% were children. The charity said screening in the Palestinian enclave had found 6,000 children in a state of acute malnourishment in June alone, marking a 180% increase since February. A UNICEF spokesperson told CBS News on Saturday that its supply in Gaza of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, used for treating severely acutely malnourished children, is expected to run out in mid-August if more is not allowed in. "We are now facing a dire situation, that we are running out of therapeutic supplies," said Salim Oweis, a spokesperson for UNICEF in Amman, Jordan, told Reuters on Thursday. "That's really dangerous for children as they face hunger and malnutrition at the moment," he added.
News.com.au
6 days ago
- Health
- News.com.au
‘Horror show': Plea to evacuate Gaza journalists as hunger crisis reaches tipping point
A major news agency has pleaded for its contributors to be evacuated from Gaza amid fears they could starve to death during the strip's humanitarian crisis and blockade. Agence France-Presse (AFP) called on Israel to allow freelance journalists and their families to leave the Palestinian territory, saying they faced an 'appalling situation'. 'For months, we have been helplessly witnessing the dramatic deterioration of their living conditions,' AFP said in a statement overnight. 'Their situation is now untenable, despite their exemplary courage, professional commitment, and resilience.' The plea comes as Gaza authorities report 21 children died due to malnutrition and starvation over the past three days, and UN head Antonio Gutteres described events in Gaza as a 'horror show'. A six-week-old baby was among 15 people who died in a single day, according to local health officials. Global outcry has also intensified over reports of civilians being shot dead at aid centres, with UN officials saying more than 1000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces at food distribution sites since late May. Israel has also been blamed for attacking warehousing and staff living areas at Gaza's main aid hub in Deor al-Balah, which housed World Health Organization staff. 'Refuse to see them die' The AFP's journalist union says one freelance writer, three photographers and six video freelancers remained in Gaza a long 21 months into the war. In a post on X, the union shared a devastating missive from one of its members written on July 19. 'I don't have the power to cover media anymore,' photographer Bashar Taleb wrote. 'My body is lean and I no longer have the ability to walk. 'Gaza. 19.7.2025.' The union said he had been living in the same conditions as all Gazans, and 'for over a year, he has lived in complete destitution and works at enormous risk to his life'. '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,' the union said. 'We refuse to see them die.' 'Living the catastrophe' The director of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, warned on Tuesday that Gaza was heading towards 'alarming numbers of deaths' due to lack of food. He said new cases of starvation were arriving at the hospital 'every moment', following the deaths of nearly two dozen children from malnutrition in recent days. 'We are heading towards alarming numbers of deaths due to the starvation inflicted on the people of Gaza,' Mr Abu Salmiya said. AFP journalist Ahlam Afana, 30, said an exhausting 'cash crisis' – from exorbitant bank charges and sky-high prices for food – was adding to the issue. She said the costs of every day items such as rice, pasta, oil and fruit were sky high: 'We can't afford them. I don't even remember how they taste. 'The danger isn't just the bombing. Hunger is slowly killing our bodies and threatening our ability to carry on. 'Now, I'm not just reporting the news. I'm living the catastrophe and documenting it at the same time.' Another contributor based in Gaza City, Khadr Al-Zanoun, said he had lost 30 kilograms since the war began. His family was 'barely hanging on', he said. Global patience wears thin More than 1000 people have been killed trying to get aid since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started operations, the UN said overnight. An officially private effort, the GHF began operations on May 26 after Israel halted supplies into the Gaza Strip for more than two months, sparking famine warnings. GHF operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations in the Palestinian territory, where the Israeli military is seeking to destroy Hamas. UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said since July 21, 1054 people were killed in Gaza while trying to get food. He added: '766 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organisations' aid convoys'. This week 28 nations – including Australia, the UK, France and Canada – penned an open statement calling for an immediate end to the war and release of remaining hostages. 'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable,' the statement read. 'Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.' Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the weekend described recent events in Gaza as 'completely indefensible' and said Israel was fast losing international support. The joint statement of western nations was criticised by Israel as 'disconnected from reality', while the US ambassador to Israel called it 'disgusting'. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, however, said he was 'sickened' at events in Gaza and called the current aid scheme 'a grotesque spectacle'.
