Latest news with #US-Israeli
Scoop
3 hours ago
- Health
- Scoop
‘Our Kids Cry For Food': Most Gaza Families Survive On One Meal A Day
The meals which families are able to obtain are nutritiously poor — thin broths, lentils or rice, one piece of bread or sometimes just a combination of herbs and olive oil known as duqqa. Adults are routinely skipping meals in order to leave more for children, the elderly and the ill. And still, on average since January, 112 children have been admitted on a daily basis for acute malnutrition. '[When my children wake up at night hungry] I tell them 'Drink water and close your eyes.' It breaks me. I do the same – drink water and pray for morning,' as one parent said. Risking lives for food Due to these extreme food shortages, people in Gaza are forced to risk their lives on a daily basis to access small amounts of food. Since 27 May, 549 Palestinians have been killed and 4,066 have been injured trying to access food, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza. 'The majority of casualties have been shot or shelled trying to reach US-Israeli distribution sites purposefully set up in militarized zones,' said Jonathan Whittall, head of office for the UN humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Since the end of May, the US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been distributing aid in Gaza, bypassing the UN and established NGOs. The UN has said Palestinians who seek aid from the GHF face threats of gunfire, shelling and stampedes. 'We don't want to be out there. But what choice do we have? Our kids cry for food. We don't sleep at night. We walk, wait, and hope we come back,' one Palestinian told WFP. Systems near collapse Protracted conflict and bombardment have pushed almost all service systems in Gaza to the brink. As a result of fuel shortages, only 40 per cent of drinking water facilities are functional and 93 per cent of households face water insecurity. The fuel shortage is also negatively affecting the provision of medical services with medical equipment and medicine storage reliant on electricity. For the first time since the resumption of limited aid entry on 19 May, nine trucks containing medical items offloaded supplies on the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom crossing on Wednesday. Displaced, over and over again Since the resumption of Israeli bombardment in Gaza on 18 March after a 42-day ceasefire, over 684,000 Palestinians have been displaced. And for almost all of them, this is not the first time. With over 82 per cent of Gaza either designated as an Israeli militarized zone or under a displacement order, there are few places — much less safe places — that the newly displaced can go. They have been forced to take shelter in overcrowded displacement camps, makeshift shelters, damaged buildings and sometimes just on open streets. Schools are no longer buildings of learning but of shelter. 'Schools have transformed into empty shelters, devoid of any elements of a safe learning environment,' said Kamla, a teacher with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Nuseirat. All of these shelters are experiencing rapidly deteriorating conditions as a result of insufficient shelter materials, according to Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary-General. 'No shelter materials have entered Gaza since 1 March, before the Israeli authorities imposed a full blockade on aid and any other supplies for nearly 80 days,' he said at a briefing on 19 June. 'While some commodities have subsequently been allowed in small quantities, tents, timber, tarpaulins and any other shelter items remain prohibited.' The UN and its partners have 980,000 shelter items prepared to dispatch into Gaza once authorization is granted by the Israeli authorities. 'Symbols of hope' Since the beginning of the violence in Gaza, UNRWA has continued to work tirelessly to provide displaced and injured Palestinians with many types of support. "Despite all this, the eyes and hopes of our community remain fixed on us. UNRWA staff are not merely service providers. In the eyes of people in Gaza, we are pillars of resilience, lifelines of stability and symbols of hope,' said Hussein, an UNRWA worker in Gaza City. But as fuel shortages continue and only small amounts of humanitarian aid — food, medicine, shelter materials — trickle through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the job of UNRWA workers and other humanitarians in Gaza is increasingly untenable. 'We have lost all the tools needed to work, so we have had to adapt,' said Neven, a psychosocial UNRWA worker in Khan Younis. Despite their best efforts, the bombardment and devastation of Gaza continues with children going hungry and some even expressing suicidal thoughts. 'I told my daughter her deceased father is safe, eating and drinking with God,' one mother said. 'Now, she cries every day and says, 'I'm hungry and want to go to my father because he has food to feed us.''
Saba Yemen
17 hours ago
- Health
- Saba Yemen
Gaza Government Media Office Exposes Drugs in Flour Bags from "Death Trap" Centers
Gaza – Saba: The Government Media Office in Gaza revealed on Friday the discovery of narcotic pills inside flour bags originating from so-called "death trap" centers, referring to US-Israeli aid facilities. In a statement obtained by Yemen News Agency (Saba), the office condemned this as a heinous crime targeting civilian health and Palestinian social cohesion, expressing grave concern over finding Oxycodone pills in flour distributed through these centers. Documented cases include four civilian testimonies of such discoveries, with alarming suspicions that some narcotics may have been ground or dissolved directly into the flour – escalating the crime to a direct assault on public health. The office held Israel fully responsible for this systematic drug-pushing operation aimed at destroying Palestinian society from within, constituting an extension of its genocidal war against Palestinians. It emphasized that Israel's weaponization of narcotics through "aid deliveries" violates international humanitarian law and constitutes a war crime, warning citizens against these lethal centers which have caused 549 deaths, 4,066 injuries, and 39 disappearances in just one month. Urging community vigilance, the office called for: - Thorough inspection of all suspect aid items - Immediate reporting of suspicious substances - Family awareness campaigns about center dangers It demanded international action to: 1) Shut down these "death trap" centers 2) Enforce aid delivery exclusively through UN channels 3) End Israeli manipulation of humanitarian operations The office reaffirmed its commitment to exposing these crimes and pursuing all Israeli perpetrators and collaborators at international legal forums
Shafaq News
18 hours ago
- Health
- Shafaq News
Hamas accuses Israel of lacing aid flour with narcotics
Shafaq News – Middle East On Friday, Hamas's authorities in Gaza announced that narcotic pills were found hidden in flour distributed by the US-Israeli funded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Describing the incident as a 'heinous crime' targeting civilians and social stability, the Media Office in Gaza revealed in a statement that several Oxycodone pills — a powerful opioid — were discovered inside flour bags provided by what it called the 'so-called American-Israeli aid centers.' The statement expressed deep concern and condemnation over the situation, warning that some of the pills may have been intentionally ground or dissolved into the flour. 'Four testimonies have so far been documented from citizens who allegedly found the pills in their food aid packages,' the statement clarified, holding Israel 'fully responsible' for what it described as a deliberate attempt to promote drug addiction and undermine Palestinian society as 'a part of a broader campaign of social destruction and genocide.' The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has not yet responded to the allegations. Earlier, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) organization called for the immediate dismantling of the Foundation, warning that the system has caused over 500 deaths and thousands of injuries in the past month. MSF accused Israeli authorities and their partners of 'turning humanitarian aid into a tool of degradation and violence,' forcing starving Palestinians to risk their lives for minimal supplies.
Middle East Eye
a day ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
MSF slams US-backed Gaza aid scheme as 'slaughter masquerading' as aid
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called for a controversial US-Israeli aid scheme in Gaza to be halted, saying it is "slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid". In a statement today, MSF said that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which was launched last month, was "degrading Palestinians by design, forcing them to choose between starvation or risking their lives for minimal supplies". The group also demanded that the scheme be "immediately dismantled".
New Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Israel massacres over 70 Palestinians in 24 hours, overall death toll at 56,259
Israel killed over 70 Palestinians in 24 hours across Gaza on June 26, including six people waiting for aid at the US-Israeli relief sites. At least 549 Palestinians were killed and 4066 others injured at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) centres.
