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The Citizen
a day ago
- General
- The Citizen
Food arrives in Gaza after Israel pauses some fighting
Food trucks reached Gaza on Monday, but aid agencies warn hundreds more are needed daily to prevent mass starvation. A military transport aircraft drops humanitarian aid over Al-Zawayda, in the central Gaza Strip, on July 28, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) Truckloads of food reached hungry Gazans on Monday after Israel promised to open secure aid routes, but humanitarian agencies warned vast amounts more were needed to stave off starvation. With Gaza's population of more than two million facing famine and malnutrition, Israel bowed to international pressure at the weekend and announced a daily 'tactical pause' in fighting in some areas. 'For the first time, I received about five kilos of flour, which I shared with my neighbour,' said 37-year-old Jamil Safadi, who shelters with his wife, six children and a sick father in a tent near the Al-Quds hospital in Tel al-Hawa. Safadi, who has been up before dawn for two weeks searching for food, said Monday was his first success. Other Gazans were less fortunate; some complained aid trucks had been stolen or that guards had fired at them near US-backed aid centres. 'I saw injured and dead people. People have no choice but to try daily to get flour. What entered from Egypt was very limited,' said 33-year-old Amir al-Rash, still without food and living in a tent. Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza on March 2 after talks to extend a six-week ceasefire broke down. Nothing was allowed into the territory until late May, when a trickle of aid resumed. ALSO READ: Words won't feed Gaza Strip Now, the Israeli defence ministry's civil affairs agency says the UN and aid agencies had been able to pick up 120 truckloads of aid on Sunday and distribute it inside Gaza, with more on the way Monday. Basic supplies Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have begun air-dropping aid packages by parachute over Gaza, while Egypt has sent trucks through its Rafah border crossing to an Israeli post just inside Gaza. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, cautiously welcomed Israel's 'humanitarian pauses' but warned Gaza needed at least 500 to 600 trucks of basic food, medicine and hygiene supplies daily. 'We hope that UNRWA will finally be allowed to bring in thousands of trucks loaded with food, medicine and hygiene supplies. They are currently in Jordan and Egypt waiting for the green light,' the agency said. 'Opening all the crossings and flooding Gaza with assistance is the only way to avert further deepening of starvation among the people of Gaza.' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly denied Israel was deliberately starving civilians as part of its intense 21-month-old war to crush the Palestinian group Hamas. ALSO READ: Children starve in Gaza as EU powers push ceasefire talks Military spokesmen say the UN and aid agencies should quickly make use of the lull in fighting and secure aid routes, urging them to pick up and distribute aid delivered to Gaza border crossings. 'An additional 180 trucks entered Gaza and are now awaiting collection and distribution, along with hundreds of others still queued for UN pickup,' said COGAT, a defence ministry body that oversees Palestinian affairs. 'More consistent collection and distribution by UN agencies and international organisations equals more aid reaching those who need it most in Gaza.' UNRWA insisted it was ready to step up distribution, with 10,000 staff inside Gaza, waiting for deliveries. 'According to our latest data one in every five children is malnourished in Gaza City. More children have reportedly died of hunger; bringing the death toll of starving people to over 100,' the statement said. Over the weekend aid trucks began arriving from Egypt and Jordan and dropping their loads at distribution platforms just inside Gaza, ready to be picked up by agencies working inside the war-shattered territory. ALSO READ: More than 100 NGOs warn 'mass starvation' spreading across Gaza But their number still falls far short of what is needed, aid agencies warn, calling for a permanent ceasefire, the reopening of more border crossings and a long-term large-scale humanitarian operation. Field hospital C-section Truce talks between Israel and Hamas — mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States — have stumbled, and Netanyahu remains determined to push on with the campaign to destroy Hamas and recover Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Gaza's civil defence agency said 16 people were killed by Israeli fire Monday. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said they included five people killed in an overnight strike on a residential building in the southern Gaza district of Al-Mawasi. A pregnant woman was among the dead, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, which said its teams saved the woman's foetus by performing a Caesarean section in a field hospital. The violence in Gaza came against the backdrop of a UN conference in New York where France and Saudi Arabia will lead a diplomatic effort to revive the moribund push for a two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. NOW READ: Dirco slams report SA collaborated with Hamas to attack Israel – By: © Agence France-Presse
Toronto Sun
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Gaza civil defence says Israeli attacks kill 26 near two aid centres
Published Jul 19, 2025 • 3 minute read Palestinian militant group Hamas has made the free flow of aid into Gaza a key issue in ceasefire talks. Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP GAZA CITY — Gaza's civil defence agency on Saturday said Israeli gunfire killed 26 people and wounded more than 100 near two aid centres, in the latest deaths of Palestinians seeking food. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Deaths of people waiting for handouts in huge crowds near food points in Gaza have become a regular occurrence, with the territory's authorities frequently blaming Israeli fire. But the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is the main distributor of aid in the territory, has accused militant group Hamas of fomenting unrest and shooting at civilians. The Israeli military said it was 'looking into' the latest reports when contacted by AFP. Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the deaths happened near a site southwest of Khan Yunis and another centre northwest of Rafah, both in the south, attributing the deaths to 'Israeli gunfire'. One eyewitness said he headed to the Al-Tina area of Khan Yunis before dawn with five of his relatives to try to get food when 'Israeli soldiers' started shooting. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'My relatives and I were unable to get anything,' Abdul Aziz Abed, 37, told AFP. 'Every day I go there and all we get is bullets and exhaustion instead of food.' Three other eyewitnesses also accused troops of opening fire. 'They started shooting at us and we lay down on the ground. Tanks and jeeps came, soldiers got out of them and started shooting,' said Tamer Abu Akar, 24. Nine people were killed in gunfire at the same centre in the Al-Shakoush area northwest of Rafah on Friday, the civil defence agency said. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. 'Agitators' The war in Gaza, sparked by militant group Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people who live in the coastal territory. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Most people have been displaced at least once by the fighting and doctors and aid agencies say the physical and mental health effects of 21 months of conflict are being increasingly seen. 'We are receiving cases suffering from extreme exhaustion and complete fatigue, in addition to severe emaciation and acute malnutrition due to prolonged lack of food,' the director of the Kuwaiti Field Hospital in Khan Yunis, Sohaib Al-Hums, said on Friday. 'Hundreds' of people were facing 'imminent death,' he added. The World Food Programme said nearly one in three people in Gaza were not eating for days at a stretch and 'thousands' were 'on the verge of catastrophic hunger.' The free flow of aid into Gaza is a key demand of Hamas in the indirect talks with Israel for a 60-day ceasefire in the war, alongside a full Israeli military withdrawal. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Following a more than two-month total Israeli blockade, GHF took over the running of aid distribution in late May, despite criticism from the United Nations, which previously coordinated handouts, that it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. GHF said 20 people died at its Khan Yunis site on Wednesday but blamed 'agitators in the crowd… armed and affiliated with Hamas' for creating 'a chaotic and dangerous surge' and firing at aid-seekers. The previous day, the UN said it had recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food, including 674 'in the vicinity of GHF sites', since it began operating. Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 people taken hostage that day, 49 are still in Gaza, including the 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory military action has killed 58,667 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Toronto & GTA MMA Letters Tennis Celebrity
Sinar Daily
18-07-2025
- Health
- Sinar Daily
Doctors Without Borders slams EU's 'hypocrisy' over Gaza
According to MSF, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the conflict, including 12 of its own staff members. 18 Jul 2025 10:05am This picture taken from a position at Israel's border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during an Israeli strike on the besieged Palestinian territory on July 17, 2025. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP) GENEVA - Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Thursday sharply criticised the EU for its continued failure to act decisively to stop what the organisation calls "orchestrated ethnic cleansing" in Gaza, accusing the bloc of complicity in the face of deliberate mass suffering. According to Anadolu Ajansi (AA), in a post on X, the MSF said it had sent an open letter to EU leaders nearly a month earlier, on June 16, urging immediate action to stop the mass atrocities unfolding in the Palestinian enclave. Palestinians queue near their containers as they await a water distribution truck at a makeshift displacement tent camp which was hit in Israeli strikes a day earlier, at the UNRWA-run Abou Helou school for girls at the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 17, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) "The EU can and must act now to stop mass atrocities in Gaza," it wrote. "Yet, amid EU member states' inaction, orchestrated ethnic cleansing in Gaza continues." According to MSF, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the conflict, including 12 of its own staff members. The group said the most recent MSF staffer was killed on July 3 while attempting to retrieve a bag of flour. "The human carnage and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza are deliberate. Humanitarian aid is weaponised and blocked. Healthcare services are targeted daily," the organisation stated. MSF also condemned the EU Foreign Affairs Council's latest conclusions, adopted on Tuesday, calling them "yet another sign of the unwillingness to exert pressure on Israel to stop the genocide in Gaza." "Once again, the EU demonstrated hypocrisy and shocking double standards when it comes to protecting civilians and ensuring the respect of international humanitarian law," it said. Calling on the EU to "turn its words into actions and to end its double standards," MSF concluded by emphasising the legal and moral responsibilities of all states to stop the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. "Every state has a moral and legal responsibility to recognise and stop the ongoing atrocities in Gaza," it wrote. The letter was directed at top EU leadership, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. EU foreign ministers met on Monday and Tuesday to discuss growing concerns over Israel's attacks in Gaza, amid mounting civilian casualties and international calls for accountability. However, member states were unable to reach a consensus, resulting in no formal decision to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement or impose sanctions. - BERNAMA-ANADOLU More Like This
Sinar Daily
18-07-2025
- General
- Sinar Daily
UN says more than 737,000 newly displaced in Gaza since March
Over the past 21 months, nearly everyone has been displaced, typically multiple times. 18 Jul 2025 09:46am Palestinians salvage items from the debris of a tent which was hit in Israeli strikes a day earlier, at the UNRWA-run Abou Helou school for girls at the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 17, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) HAMILTON - The United Nations (UN) said Thursday that more than 737,000 people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip since an escalation of Israeli attacks in March, underscoring the scale of the humanitarian crisis facing the population, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported. Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay reported at a news conference that "between the 8th and the 15th of July, more than 11,500 people were newly displaced." Palestinians salvage items from the debris of a tent which was hit in Israeli strikes a day earlier, at the UNRWA-run Abou Helou school for girls at the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 17, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) "That brings overall displacement since the latest escalation of hostilities on March 18th to over 737,000 people - that's about 35 per cent of Gaza's population. "And over the past 21 months, nearly everyone has been displaced, typically multiple times," she noted. Tremblay said Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours hit sites sheltering displaced Palestinians, with reports of injuries and fatalities. Despite mounting needs, she said that only a limited amount of humanitarian aid is reaching the enclave. Tremblay described the delivery of benzene for the first time in more than 135 days as a "small but important step forward," noting that benzene is essential for powering ambulances and critical services. "But it's not enough," she stressed. On the Israeli strike against a church in Gaza, Tremblay said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres "strongly condemns today's reports of an Israeli strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza, a place of worship and a sanctuary for civilians." "Attacks on places of worship are unacceptable. People seeking shelter must be respected and protected, not hit by strikes," she added, reiterating demands for an immediate ceasefire. She reiterated Guterres' call "on all parties to ensure that civilians are respected and protected at all times and allow humanitarian aid to flow into the Strip at scale." In response to a question by Anadolu on Israel's reported reassignment of administrative control of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron to a settler council, Tremblay said the UN had not seen the report, but emphasised: "We always call for the protection of all religious sites." On Tuesday, Israeli media reported that Tel Aviv removed the Hebron municipality's administrative authority over the Ibrahimi Mosque and reassigned it to a settler council. The Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs, is a site sacred to Muslims and Jews. Tensions over control and access have long made the mosque a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli move marks the first major shift in the status of the mosque since the 1994 recommendations of the Shamgar Commission, which divided access, allocating 63 per cent of the site to Jewish worshippers and 37 per cent to Muslims. The division followed the 1994 massacre by extremist settler Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinian worshippers during dawn prayers. The mosque is located in the Old City in an area under full Israeli control where roughly 400 illegal settlers live under the protection of 1,500 Israeli soldiers. - BERNAMA-ANADOLU More Like This
Sinar Daily
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Sinar Daily
Over 700 Palestinians killed while collecting water in Gaza, say authorities
On Sunday, at least 12 people were killed, including eight children, by Israeli fire while waiting to collect water in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. 15 Jul 2025 08:48am A man draws water into a bottle from the tank of a destroyed mobile water cistern that was hit by Israeli bombardment in the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) ISTANBUL - More than 700 Palestinians, mostly children, have been killed by Israeli army fire while collecting water since October 2023, Anadolu Ajansi reported, citing local authorities on Monday. "The Israeli occupation continues to wage a systematic and deliberate war of thirst against the Palestinian people in Gaza, in a flagrant violation of all international and humanitarian conventions,' Gaza's government media office said in a statement. A boy carries on his back a jerrycan filled with water drawn from the tank of a destroyed mobile water cistern that was hit by Israeli bombardment in the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) The office accused Israeli forces of using water as a weapon of war "to deprive the Palestinians of their most basic rights.' It noted that Israeli army forces had committed 112 massacres against Gazans collecting water, killing more than 700 people, mostly children, since October 2023. On Sunday, at least 12 people were killed, including eight children, by Israeli fire while waiting to collect water in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The media office said that over 720 water wells were deliberately destroyed by the Israeli army in Gaza. "Attacks on water wells have deprived more than 1.25 million Palestinians of access to clean water,' it added. According to the statement, the Israeli army has obstructed the entry of 12 million litres of fuel monthly, the necessary amount to operate the minimum number of water wells, sewage stations, waste collection mechanisms, and other vital sectors in Gaza. "This has caused a complete paralysis in water and sewage networks and the spread of epidemics, mainly among the children,' it added. The media office called on the international community and human rights organisations to take immediate action to stop Israel's systematic and deliberate use of water as a war weapon and to allow the necessary amount of fuel and heavy equipment to reoperate water wells and drainage stations. Israel has kept Gaza crossings closed to food, medical, and humanitarian aid since March 2, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis in the enclave, affecting Gaza's 2.4 million residents. The blockade has pushed the region into famine conditions, with many reported deaths due to hunger. Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 58,000 Palestinians so far, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and a spread of disease. - BERNAMA-ANADOLU
