Latest news with #Alhaddad
7NEWS
29-06-2025
- General
- 7NEWS
‘We've seen hospitals being bombed. We've seen schools being bombed': The harrowing reality of life in Gaza
WARNING: Distressing images Tents pitched on the rubble of their homes and fires started using the burnt clothes off their backs — this is the reality of life in Gaza. Ghada Alhaddad grew up in Gaza, after her grandparents were displaced from parts of Palestine now called Israel. Since October 2023, she and her family have been displaced within Gaza at least five times. She believes this is below the average number of times families in the strip would have moved. The latest eruption of war in Gaza was sparked on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants killed 1200 people in Israel and took some 250 hostages back to the enclave, according to Israeli tallies. Many of those killed or captured were civilians. More than 54,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israel's retaliatory military campaign, according to Gaza health authorities. It has extended to other parts of the Middle East, namely Lebanon and Iran. A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is currently being negotiated, but one previously agreed to on March 14 was soon broken by Israel on March 18. Since breaking the ceasefire, Israel has issued almost one displacement order every two days, international aid organisations say. Approximately 665,000 people have been forcibly displaced since March 18, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). International organisations say this is forcing people into isolated areas, with the available so-called safe zones covering less than 20 per cent of the Gaza Strip. 'All of a sudden you have to go,' Alhaddad told 'Whatever you see, you pick it up and take it.' Once an order is made, you are forced to move quickly, Alhaddad said. 'You only have a couple of hours, you evacuate as quickly as possible,' she said. 'You take whatever you've got and that's it. You take as light as possible.' This far into the war, many people are dealing with significant injuries that affect their ability to move as well, Alhaddad said. Alongside the injured are 'elderly people, people with ... amputations', she said. 'Children and pregnant women.' Evacuations happen 'sometimes in the middle of the night, with no light', she said. 'They just walk and walk, to no clear destination.' Alongside the physical pain of travelling to a new place, there is an emotional pain that comes with leaving, Alhaddad said. You wonder what would happen if you returned, she said. Gazans know that if they remain where they are, they will not be safe. But there are consequences that come with leaving, too. 'I'm not going to see my home again,' Alhaddad said. While areas are designated as safe when Israel makes a displacement order, Palestinians do not believe they are really safe. 'There is no safe place,' Alhaddad said. 'People used to take shelter in schools, then hospitals. But they're not safe.' "We've seen hospitals being bombed. We've seen schools being bombed." At least 767 people have been killed, and at least 2419 people have been injured, while sheltering in UNRWA premises since October 7, 2023. The areas Palestinians are now forced to shelter in are also not fit for purpose, Alhaddad said. 'Honestly, we don't have shelters,' she said. 'There's no water, no sanitation, no shelter. 'People build tents from piles of nylon sheets, empty flour sacks.' The displacement orders have 'pushed people down' to occupy less than 20 per cent of Gaza, Alhaddad said. The Gaza Strip is roughly half the size of Canberra, and prior to October 2023 already had more than two million people living in close quarters. 'When you walk on the street, you see people everywhere,' Alhaddad said. 'You can imagine how chaotic. There's no space. 'People build their tents on the rubble of their homes. 'People build their tents on the beach. On the pavement, on the graveyards or cemeteries. 'There's no place to build.' Alongside concerns over where to shelter each night, Palestinians are also dealing with widespread hunger. The UN warned in April that one in five people in Gaza were facing starvation, and the entire population was edging closer to famine. The situation has only gotten worse since then. 'Food is a big issue now,' Alhaddad said. 'Most people are starving, there is no food getting into Gaza. 'Starvation is really different. 'We've run out of food from our stocks. 'There were some agricultural lands, but they've been destroyed. 'People do not have the ability to grow their own food. Israel bombed our agricultural lands. 'We have no way of cooking, no fuel. Only wood. 'People cut trees, burn clothes.' Gaza is an 'open air prison', Alhaddad said. 'You've been imprisoned in this land, and you're not allowed to move.' There is no safe way to leave Gaza, she said. 'Israel shut down the borders,' she said. 'You can't travel to the West Bank. You can't travel to Jerusalem.' There is no way of leaving through the border with Egypt either, Alhaddad said. A United Nations conference on a two-state solution was scheduled to begin in New York on June 17 and run to June 20, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France. However, following the launching of a massive attack on Iran by Israeli forces on June 13, the conference has been postponed. The bombardment has continued between the two nations since — with Iranian officials reporting over 220 deaths, mostly civilians, while Israel said 24 civilians were killed. Alhaddad hopes foreign governments will push for a permanent ceasefire, when it does go ahead. 'The most important thing right now is a ceasefire,' she said. Alhaddad's neighbour was killed a few weeks ago in an Israeli strike which also claimed 12 other lives. 'One of my classmates was killed along with her three children,' she said. Alhaddad grew up with them, went to school with them, celebrated milestones with them and then one day they were dead, she said. "We need this bloodbath to stop. We need this bloodshed to stop." 'Entire families have been wiped out,' she said. 'We are exhausted. Wars have shaped our youth, our childhood. I just want a future with no war. 'It's my dream. I don't have any other dreams right now. 'I just want a ceasefire.' Last week, Australia was one of 149 countries to vote in favour of an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza and to allow aid access, after the United States vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council the week before. The US, Israel and 10 others voted against the resolution, while 19 countries abstained from voting. Australia also last week sanctioned Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a co-ordinated move with Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom. The sanctions were applied for 'extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights' in the West Bank, with the pair barred from travelling to Australia and any assets in the country being frozen. 'We are steadfastly committed to the two-state solution which is the only way to guarantee security and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians and ensure long term stability in the region, but it is imperilled by extremist settler violence and settlement expansion,' the government said in its announcement of the sanctions. Australia in July also sanctioned Israelis involved in attacking and killing Palestinians in the West Bank. Australia has listed Hamas as a terrorist entity since 2001, according to the federal government's national security website. The new measures prompted condemnation from the US, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying it would do little to achieve a ceasefire in the conflict.
ITV News
04-05-2025
- Health
- ITV News
Families in Gaza search 'piles of rubbish' to feed children as food shortage worsens, charities say
As Israel's blockade on supplies into Gaza enters it's third month, desperate scenes of hunger and need can be seen across the territory as ITV News' Ian Woods reports Chronic food shortages due to Israel's blockade could add to the large number of Palestinians dying in Gaza, humanitarian charities said. Oxfam and UNICEF said disease and malnutrition are now common place in Gaza as families search through "piles of rubbish" to feed their children. The blockade of aid into Gaza is part of Israel's efforts to force Hamas to negotiate a ceasefire while 2.3 million people have been plunged into the worst humanitarian crisis of the war. Since the start of the year more than 9,000 children have been treated for acute malnutrition, according to the UN. Ghada Alhaddad from Oxfam based in Gaza said: "We've seen starvation used as a weapon of war, not only not allowing the aid into the Gaza strip but also destroying agriculture and land and destroying anyway for Palestinians trying to produce their own food." She said the situation is getting "worse and worse by the day" since Israel shut the boarders two months ago. "Almost nothing has entered the Gaza Strip. We've seen people, elderly, children, and all vulnerable communities in the Gaza Strip are starving because there is nothing in the market." She said: "Essential food items like milk, eggs, fruits, dairies, protein sources like beef and the chicken have disappeared from the market" and most items are now "really, really expensive and it is beyond affordable." Dr Yasser Abu Ghaly, who works in the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, said: "The is no meat in the market no source of protein canned food is running out there's no nutrition at all even healthy children with no diseases are starting to come to us showing signs of lack of food, weakness, frailty and repeated gastric flu." Ms Alhaddad explained how families, including herself, are rationing food and skipping meals. Some families have resorted to looking through piles of rubble and rubbish to find anything to feed their children. Tess Ingram, UNICEF spokesperson for the Middle east and North Africa, said: "Families are searching throughout the rubble of homes and buildings, on the street, through piles of rubbish to try and find food to eat, supplies to give their children." "We're seeing rising cases of malnutrition among children, particularly young children." "We've run out of the supplies that we give children to prevent malnutrition already, and these treatment supplies are almost out," she added. "The places where children can go for treatment have diminished. We've gone from 200 treatment centres down to 120." An 8-week ceasefire with the Hamas militant group allowed more aid into Gaza and freed some Israeli hostages, but it collapsed in March when Israel resumed strikes. Israel says there should be enough food because supplies were allowed into Gaza during the ceasefire period earlier in the year. In response Ms Alhaddad from Oxfam described the aid that came in during the pause in flighting as "a drop in an ocean of need." "Most of the aid supplies that got into Gaza during the ceasefire didn't cover the minimum needs of Gaza's people. "We are talking about two months without getting anything into the Gaza Strip. So it is catastrophic. "Most humanitarian actors in the Gaza Strip have stated that their food and their aid has depleted. We at Oxfam distributed the last food parcel on April 20." She described how water facilities had also been bombed so access to fresh water has become even more limited. Ms Ingram from UNICEF said: "75% of families says water access has become harder in the last four weeks alone. "They're really struggling to find safe water to drink and often having to resort to unsafe drinking water. This is causing a rise in disease." She added: "We're now on day 62 of not a drop of grain, not a drop of water entering the Gaza Strip. And every day that that goes on, the less families have to eat, the less they have to drink and the more we will see suffering rise. Disease, malnutrition and death." The situation is likely to get worst as Israel votes on whether to expand its fighting in Gaza. On Sunday ahead of the cabinet vote, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a missile which landed near the international airport in Tel Aviv. Four people were injured while flights and traffic were briefly halted as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Israel would respond to the attack. Israeli airstrikes killed at least seven Palestinians, including parents and their children, ages 2 and 4, in southern and central Gaza, Palestinian medics said. The military had no comment. Israel's offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages where 59 remain captive, Israel said.
