Latest news with #aidagencies
Al Arabiya
4 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Israel says over 120 aid trucks delivered to Gaza in first day of partial pause
Israel said Monday that more than 120 truckloads of food aid were distributed by the UN and aid agencies in the Gaza Strip on the first day of a partial pause in fighting. On Sunday, Israel declared a 'tactical' pause in military operations in part of Gaza and promised to open secure routes for aid, urging humanitarian groups to step up food distribution. 'Over 120 trucks were collected and distributed yesterday by the UN and international organizations,' COGAT, an Israeli defense ministry agency overseeing civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said in a post on X on Monday.
Japan Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Israel declares Gaza fighting pause amid deepening hunger crisis
Israel declared a "tactical pause" in fighting in parts of Gaza on Sunday and said it would allow the U.N. and aid agencies to open secure land routes to tackle a deepening hunger crisis. The military also said it had begun air-dropping food into the territory and angrily rejected allegations it was using starvation as a weapon against Palestinian civilians. In a statement, the army said it coordinated its decisions with the U.N. and international organizations to "increase the scale of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip." There was no immediate official response from the U.N. or nongovernmental aid agencies operating in Gaza, and privately skeptical humanitarian sources said they were waiting to see the results on the ground of the Israeli announcement. The pause in fighting would be limited to areas where the military says Israeli troops are not currently operating — Al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City — and last from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. every day. But the Israeli statement added that "designated secure routes" had been opened across all of Gaza to enable the safe passage of U.N. and humanitarian aid organization convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine. The Israeli military said these operations, alongside its ongoing campaign against Palestinian armed groups, should disprove "the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip." Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2 after ceasefire talks broke down. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume, amid warnings of a wave of starvation. Before Israel announced the airborne delivery of seven pallets of food, the United Arab Emirates had said it would restart aid drops and Britain said it would work with partners including Jordan to assist them. On Saturday alone, the Palestinian civil defense agency said over 50 more Palestinians had been killed in Israeli strikes and shootings, some as they waited near aid distribution centers. "We ask God and our Arab brothers to work harder to reach a ceasefire before we all die," Gaza resident Hossam Sobh said, adding that he had feared death as he recovered a bag of flour under the nose of an Israeli tank. Also Saturday, Israeli troops boarded a boat carrying activists from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as it attempted to approach Gaza from the sea to challenge a naval blockade. The humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory has gravely deteriorated in recent days, with more than 100 NGOs warning recently that "mass starvation" was spreading in Gaza. On Telegram, the Israeli military announced it "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." Humanitarian chiefs are deeply skeptical that air drops can deliver enough food safely to tackle the deepening hunger crisis facing Gaza's more than 2 million inhabitants. But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the idea, vowing to work with Jordan to restart air drops. The United Arab Emirates said it would resume air drops "immediately." A number of Western and Arab governments carried out air drops in Gaza in 2024, when aid deliveries by land also faced Israeli restrictions, but many in the humanitarian community consider them ineffective. "Air drops will not reverse the deepening starvation," said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. "They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians." Israel's military insists it does not limit the number of trucks going into Gaza, and alleges that U.N. agencies and relief groups are not collecting aid once it is inside the territory. But humanitarian organizations accuse the army of imposing excessive restrictions, while tightly controlling road access within Gaza. A separate aid operation is underway through the Israeli— and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. But it has faced fierce international criticism after Israeli fire killed hundreds of Palestinians near distribution points. On Saturday evening, the live feed on the Handala boat belonging to pro-Palestinian activist group Freedom Flotilla showed Israeli troops boarding the vessel. The soldiers moved in as the boat approached Gaza and three video live feeds of the scene broadcasting online were cut minutes later. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Al Jazeera
24-07-2025
- Health
- Al Jazeera
How Israel pushed Gaza to breaking point, ‘starving, alone, and hunted'
Through its unrelenting war on Gaza, Israel has killed over 59,000 Palestinians, injured 143,000 others, and pushed hundreds of thousands into forced starvation caused by its blockade on the enclave and its militarised distribution system. More than 100 Palestinians have starved to death as a result in recent weeks, 80 of them children. Whatever its ultimate intention, according to analysts, Israel has pushed the people of Gaza to the breaking point. 'Israeli policy has left Gaza uninhabitable,' said Derek Summerfield, a United Kingdom-based psychiatrist who has written on the effects of war and atrocity. 'It's destroyed the idea of a society and every institution that might serve it, from universities to hospitals to mosques. It's become a sociocidal war,' he added, describing a conflict intended to destroy a society's entire structures and sense of identity. 'People have been left with nothing, and are feeling they can't go on.' The constant spectre of death and the complete devastation of Gaza have driven many Palestinians there to desperation. Some are trying to leave – even temporarily – due to the horrors they have experienced and in a conflict that may continue for months or years to come. Others continue to cling to their homes in defiance of escalating Israeli aggression. The mass starvation that aid agencies have warned about has become a reality for Palestinians in Gaza, as aid workers and journalists join the ranks of the hungry and the malnourished. On Wednesday, more than 100 aid agencies issued an open letter urging the Israeli government to work with the United Nations and allow aid into Gaza. Al Jazeera has called for action to protect all journalists trapped in Gaza, many of whom are no longer able to report due to their own acute hunger and deteriorating health. AFP agency made a similar call. 'Famine isn't just physical, it's mental,' said Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University, who has written extensively on famine. 'It dehumanises and degrades the sufferer … It's the experience of – and then the memory of – having searched through garbage for food and everything you have done to survive.' 'You need to remember, starvation is an act, and as often as not a criminal one,' he continued. 'It's also one that takes time. It's not like dropping a bomb… Starvation can take 60 to 80 days. Semi-starvation, such as we're seeing in Gaza, can take longer. 'Israel has had ample and stark warnings that its actions are leading to mass starvation. This should surprise no one.' 'This isn't just about starving kids. It's about dismantling a society and reducing its people to desperate, starving victims,' de Waal added. 'It also encourages the abuser to think of the sufferer as dehumanised, so it becomes self-justifying.' Through its 21-month war, Israel's leaders have repeatedly claimed their war on Gaza was to 'defeat Hamas' and rescue the captives held in the territory. However, with every new offensive, its critics around the world have accused it of either turning a blind eye to the humanitarian consequences of its actions or actively seeking to punish Palestinians and force starvation upon them. 'I don't know if you can call this a strategy,' said Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House. 'I don't know how much is planned, how much is tactical, cynical, opportunistic or just incompetence. It all depends where you look.' Mekelberg broke down the factions competing for final say in Israeli policy, from the messianic ambitions of ultranationalist government ministers, such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who would like to see the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank expelled, to a security establishment that Mekelberg described as divided over whether it should continue or end the war. 'Lastly, you have the cynical and the opportunistic,' he continued, 'which is essentially Benjamin Netanyahu and his adherents. To them, this is all about politics and surviving for another day,' Mekelberg said of the prime minister, who is on trial on multiple corruption charges. The consequences of Israel's actions in Gaza will last generations, analysts said. Those who survive Israel's current war will carry its scars, as will their descendants, while those who leave are unlikely to be allowed to return. 'Israel has adopted a formula in the last few weeks where it is making conditions in Gaza intolerable and unable to support human life,' said Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya. 'If it can reduce life to such a level and at the same time increase the level of chaos and anarchy [across Gaza], the thinking is that people will leave.' Once they have been forced from their homeland, either through the conditions that Israel has imposed, or via the one-way entrance into what Israeli government ministers call a 'humanitarian city', while many critics call it a concentration camp, it intends to construct along the border with Egypt, they won't be allowed back, Rabbani said. Hardly a day has gone by since Israel's assault upon Gaza began in October 2023 that its war has not dominated headlines. In recent weeks, as starvation and the extent of the near-total destruction that Israel has visited upon the enclave have grown, so too has the disquiet among the international community. However, in the face of the protests, and with ceasefire negotiations supposedly ongoing, Israel's war has shown few signs of slowing. That has left Gaza's population, in the words of Summerfield, left to 'wander Gaza; starving, alone and hunted'.
Sky News
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Gaza faces mass starvation with supplies 'totally depleted', aid agencies warn
More than 100 aid and rights groups have warned of mass starvation in Gaza - revealing supplies have become "totally depleted". Large amounts of food, clean water and medical supplies are sitting untouched just outside Gaza, but the groups blamed Israel for its "restrictions" which they say is creating "chaos, starvation, and death". The situation has become so bad, aid agencies warned they were seeing even their own colleagues "waste away before their eyes". Israel, which controls all supplies entering Gaza, has denied it is responsible for shortages of food and other supplies. In a statement signed by 111 organisations, the groups said: "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 organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes. "The government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death." The groups called for governments to demand the lifting of all restrictions and for the restoration of a "principled, UN-led humanitarian response". The Norwegian Refugee Council, which backed the statement and is one of the largest independent aid organisations in Gaza, said it has no more supplies to distribute and some of its staff are starving - and accused Israel of paralysing its work. "Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left," Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the council, told the Reuters news agency. 4:10 United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said "starvation is knocking on every door" in the Palestinian territory, describing the situation as a "horror show". Palestinian officials said at least 101 people are known to have died of malnutrition during the conflict in Gaza, including 80 children, most of them in recent weeks. 6:22 Some food stocks in Gaza have run out since Israel cut off all supplies in March and then lifted the blockade in May with new measures it said were needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups. Israel has blamed the UN for failing to protect aid it says is stolen by Hamas and other groups. The fighters deny stealing it. The UK and several other countries have condemned the current aid delivery model, which is backed by the Israeli and American governments. It has reportedly resulted in Israeli troops firing on Palestinian civilians in search of food on multiple occasions.
Washington Post
01-07-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
USAID cuts may cause 14 million more deaths in next five years, study says
Funding cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by the Trump administration could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths globally over the next five years, according to a new study, as the toll of the government's dismantling of one of the largest aid agencies worldwide unfolds.
