Latest news with #NadavShoshani
UPI
3 hours ago
- Politics
- UPI
Aid agencies say mass starvation stalking Gaza, demand end to blockade
Palestinians wait their turn for a hot meal at a camp for displaced people in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on July 6 File Photo by Anas Deeb/UPI | License Photo July 23 (UPI) -- Mass starvation is spreading across Gaza as a result of Israel's blockade on aid entering the Palestinian enclave, 111 international aid, human rights and religious groups said Wednesday in an appeal to the global community to act. The agencies, including Save the Children, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Caritas and Amnesty International, said in a joint open letter that colleagues and those they served in Gaza were "wasting away" due to malnutrition. "As the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organizations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes," the letter reads. The groups said doctors were reporting record rates of acute malnutrition, particularly in children and the elderly, and adults dropping in the streets from hunger and dehydration as the volume of aid distributions dwindled to just 28 trucks a day, on average, to feed 2 million people. "Exactly two months since the Israeli government-controlled scheme, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began operating, more than 100 organizations are sounding the alarm, urging governments to act: open all land crossings; restore the full flow of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items, and fuel through a principled, U.N.-led mechanism; end the siege, and agree to a cease-fire now," they wrote. Israel said there was plenty of food getting into Gaza and blamed the U.N. and other aid agencies for failing to get it to the people who needed it. Sharing aerial footage on X that purported to show a staging post inside Gaza stocked with very significant volumes of aid, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said the depot contained 950 trucks worth of aid "waiting for international organizations to pick up and distribute to Gazan civilians." "This is after Israel facilitated the aid entry into Gaza," said Shoshani. COGAT, the Israeli government agency tasked with implementing civilian policy in Gaza and the West Bank, boiled down the issue to what it called a "collection bottleneck." "The collection bottleneck remains the main obstacle to maintaining a consistent flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, despite Israel's proactive efforts to expand the volume of aid trucks entering the area," it said in a social media post. The aid agencies acknowledged the presence of many tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel, but said it was lying untouched because Israeli restrictions made it virtually impossible for them to access or deliver it. They said the Israeli government's "restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death." "The U.N.-led humanitarian system has not failed, it has been prevented from functioning," the aid groups said. However, Israeli Army Radio quoted COGAT as saying Hamas was cynically exploiting a highly emotive issue to gain leverage in ongoing negotiations to end the conflict by "conducting a false campaign regarding the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip." Israel upended the traditional U.N.-led system developed over decades that delivered aid to where people were in favour of a new mechanism run by a U.S. non-profit under which Palestinians must collect aid from a handful of distribution hubs in active military zones. Jerusalem said the scheme is aimed at preventing aid from being stolen by Hamas and resold to fund its military operations against Israel. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said on its Facebook page that as of noon Tuesday, 1,026 people had been killed and 6,563 injured trying to access food at GHF sites in Gaza in the eight weeks since the scheme began operating May 27.
Al-Ahram Weekly
20 hours ago
- Health
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Gaza hospital says 21 children dead from malnutrition and starvation - War on Gaza
The head of Gaza's largest hospital on Tuesday said 21 children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the past three days, while Israel pressed a devastating assault. Gaza's population of more than two million people is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with residents frequently killed as they try to collect humanitarian aid at a handful of distribution points. "Twenty-one children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in various areas across the Gaza Strip," Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, told reporters. Abu Salmiya said new cases of malnutrition and starvation were arriving at Gaza's remaining functioning hospitals "every moment" warning there could be "alarming numbers" of deaths due to starvation. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Gaza a "horror show" in a speech on Tuesday, with "a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times". After talks to extend a six-week ceasefire broke down, Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza on March 2 this year, allowing nothing in until trucks were again permitted to enter at a trickle in late May. However, stocks accumulated during the ceasefire have gradually depleted, leaving the territory's inhabitants experiencing the worst shortages since the start of the war in October 2023. Chaotic scenes have become frequent at aid distribution areas since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation effectively sidelined a vast UN aid delivery network in Gaza. The UN on Tuesday said Israeli forces had killed over 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the GHF began its operations in late May, with most near the foundation's sites. Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani posted a video online on Tuesday evening, showing what he said was "950 trucks worth of aid currently waiting in Gaza for international organisations to pick up and distribute". "This is after Israel facilitated the aid entry into Gaza," he wrote on X. 🎥 WATCH: 950 trucks worth of aid, currently waiting in Gaza❗️for international organizations to pick up and distribute to Gazan civilians. This is after Israel facilitated the aid entry into Gaza. — LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) July 22, 2025 Latest attacks Earlier Tuesday, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes had killed 15 people, after the World Health Organization said Israel attacked its facilities amid its expanding ground operations. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Israeli strikes on the Al-Shati camp west of Gaza City had killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 50. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once during the conflict and the Al-Shati camp, on the Mediterranean coast, hosts thousands of people displaced from the north in tents and makeshift shelters. Raed Bakr, 30, lives with his three children and said he heard "a massive explosion" at about 1:40 am on Tuesday (2240 GMT Monday), which blew their tent away. "I felt like I was in a nightmare. Fire, dust, smoke and body parts flying through the air, dirt everywhere. The children were screaming," Bakr, whose wife was killed last year, told AFP. Reports of the latest death toll came as the Roman Catholic church's most senior cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "morally unacceptable". Pizzaballa spent three days in Gaza after an Israeli strike on the territory's only Catholic church last Thursday which killed three people. New ground operations WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accused Israeli troops of entering its staff residence, and forcing women and children to evacuate, as they handcuffed, stripped and interrogated male staff at gunpoint. Israeli forces meanwhile expanded ground operations in Deir el-Balah following intense shelling of the area in central Gaza on Monday. The civil defence agency's Bassal said two people were killed in Deir el-Balah. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were living in the area, which until now had been considered relatively safe. Some 30,000 were living in displacement sites. OCHA said nearly 88 percent of the entire Gaza Strip was now either under evacuation orders or within Israeli militarised zones, forcing the population of 2.4 million into an ever-shrinking space. Despite what Guterres described as "devastation... upon devastation", Israeli far-right leaders met in Jerusalem to discuss plans for redeveloping Gaza as a tourist-friendly "riviera", with a permanent Jewish presence. A "master plan" presented at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, foresees the construction of housing for 1.2 million new Jewish residents and the development of industrial and agricultural zones, as well as tourism complexes on the coast. Since 7 October 2023, Israel's genocidal war in Gaza has killed at least 59,106 Palestinians, most of them women and children, with more than 142,511 others wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry. * This story was edited by Ahram Online. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
South Wales Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- South Wales Guardian
UN agency says Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on Gaza crowd seeking aid
The World Food Programme condemned the violence that erupted in northern Gaza as Palestinians tried to reach a convoy of trucks carrying food. The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 80 people were killed in the incident. The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat', but has questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians. The accusation by a major aid agency that has had generally good working relations with Israel builds on descriptions by witnesses and others, who also said Israel opened fire on the crowd. The bloodshed surrounding aid access highlights the increasingly precarious situation for people in Gaza who have been desperately seeking out food and other assistance, as the war shows no signs of ending. Israel and Hamas are still engaged in ceasefire talks, but there appears to be no breakthrough and it is not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt. As the talks proceed, the death toll in the war-ravaged territory has climbed to more than 58,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Israel has meanwhile widened its evacuation orders for the territory to include an area that has been somewhat less hard-hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier stretches of Gaza. In northern Gaza on Sunday, the Health Ministry, witnesses and a UN official said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to get food from a 25-truck convoy that had entered the hard-hit area. The WFP statement, which said the crowd surrounding its convoy 'came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,' backs up those claims. The statement did not specify a death toll, saying only the incident resulted in the loss of 'countless lives.' 'These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,' it said, adding that the incident occurred despite assurances from Israeli authorities that aid delivery would improve. Part of those assurances, it said, was that armed forces would not be present nor engage along aid routes. The Israeli military declined to comment on the WFP claims. Military spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani posted on X on Sunday that soldiers were told 'do not engage, do not shoot'. Israel has not allowed international media to enter Gaza throughout the war, and the competing claims could not be independently verified. Sunday's incident comes as Palestinian access to aid in the territory has been greatly diminished, and seeking that aid has become perilous. A US and Israeli-backed aid system that has wrested some aid delivery from traditional providers like the UN has been wracked by violence and chaos as Palestinians heading toward its aid distribution sides have come under fire. The group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, had said that the majority of the reported violence has not occurred at its sites.
Rhyl Journal
2 days ago
- Health
- Rhyl Journal
UN agency says Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on Gaza crowd seeking aid
The World Food Programme condemned the violence that erupted in northern Gaza as Palestinians tried to reach a convoy of trucks carrying food. The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 80 people were killed in the incident. The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat', but has questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians. The accusation by a major aid agency that has had generally good working relations with Israel builds on descriptions by witnesses and others, who also said Israel opened fire on the crowd. The bloodshed surrounding aid access highlights the increasingly precarious situation for people in Gaza who have been desperately seeking out food and other assistance, as the war shows no signs of ending. Israel and Hamas are still engaged in ceasefire talks, but there appears to be no breakthrough and it is not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt. As the talks proceed, the death toll in the war-ravaged territory has climbed to more than 58,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Israel has meanwhile widened its evacuation orders for the territory to include an area that has been somewhat less hard-hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier stretches of Gaza. In northern Gaza on Sunday, the Health Ministry, witnesses and a UN official said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to get food from a 25-truck convoy that had entered the hard-hit area. The WFP statement, which said the crowd surrounding its convoy 'came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,' backs up those claims. The statement did not specify a death toll, saying only the incident resulted in the loss of 'countless lives.' 'These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,' it said, adding that the incident occurred despite assurances from Israeli authorities that aid delivery would improve. Part of those assurances, it said, was that armed forces would not be present nor engage along aid routes. The Israeli military declined to comment on the WFP claims. Military spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani posted on X on Sunday that soldiers were told 'do not engage, do not shoot'. Israel has not allowed international media to enter Gaza throughout the war, and the competing claims could not be independently verified. Sunday's incident comes as Palestinian access to aid in the territory has been greatly diminished, and seeking that aid has become perilous. A US and Israeli-backed aid system that has wrested some aid delivery from traditional providers like the UN has been wracked by violence and chaos as Palestinians heading toward its aid distribution sides have come under fire. The group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, had said that the majority of the reported violence has not occurred at its sites.
North Wales Chronicle
2 days ago
- Health
- North Wales Chronicle
UN agency says Israeli tanks and snipers opened fire on Gaza crowd seeking aid
The World Food Programme condemned the violence that erupted in northern Gaza as Palestinians tried to reach a convoy of trucks carrying food. The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 80 people were killed in the incident. The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat', but has questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians. The accusation by a major aid agency that has had generally good working relations with Israel builds on descriptions by witnesses and others, who also said Israel opened fire on the crowd. The bloodshed surrounding aid access highlights the increasingly precarious situation for people in Gaza who have been desperately seeking out food and other assistance, as the war shows no signs of ending. Israel and Hamas are still engaged in ceasefire talks, but there appears to be no breakthrough and it is not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt. As the talks proceed, the death toll in the war-ravaged territory has climbed to more than 58,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Israel has meanwhile widened its evacuation orders for the territory to include an area that has been somewhat less hard-hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier stretches of Gaza. In northern Gaza on Sunday, the Health Ministry, witnesses and a UN official said Israeli forces opened fire toward crowds who tried to get food from a 25-truck convoy that had entered the hard-hit area. The WFP statement, which said the crowd surrounding its convoy 'came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,' backs up those claims. The statement did not specify a death toll, saying only the incident resulted in the loss of 'countless lives.' 'These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation,' it said, adding that the incident occurred despite assurances from Israeli authorities that aid delivery would improve. Part of those assurances, it said, was that armed forces would not be present nor engage along aid routes. The Israeli military declined to comment on the WFP claims. Military spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani posted on X on Sunday that soldiers were told 'do not engage, do not shoot'. Israel has not allowed international media to enter Gaza throughout the war, and the competing claims could not be independently verified. Sunday's incident comes as Palestinian access to aid in the territory has been greatly diminished, and seeking that aid has become perilous. A US and Israeli-backed aid system that has wrested some aid delivery from traditional providers like the UN has been wracked by violence and chaos as Palestinians heading toward its aid distribution sides have come under fire. The group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, had said that the majority of the reported violence has not occurred at its sites.
