Latest news with #bombardment
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Holy Land clerics ‘stand in solidarity' with people of Gaza after visit
Holy Land clerics 'stand in solidarity' with people of Gaza after visit NewsFeed Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III condemned Israel's bombardment and blockade of Gaza as 'morally unacceptable' after a rare visit to the besieged territory on July 18. Their trip followed an Israeli strike on Gaza's only Catholic church, which killed three people. Video Duration 02 minutes 49 seconds 02:49 Video Duration 01 minutes 58 seconds 01:58 Video Duration 01 minutes 24 seconds 01:24 Video Duration 00 minutes 38 seconds 00:38 Video Duration 00 minutes 44 seconds 00:44 Video Duration 00 minutes 37 seconds 00:37 Video Duration 01 minutes 46 seconds 01:46
The Standard
a day ago
- Health
- The Standard
Israeli forces push into parts of a central Gaza city that the war had largely spared
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed from an Israeli army bombardment of Gaza, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
U.N. says facilities hit, guesthouse in Gaza raided by Israeli troops
The United Nations said Monday that two of its guesthouses in the central Gaza Strip were either hit or came under attack, including a raid by Israeli troops on a residence for employees of the World Health Organization, as the military moved into an area where at least 50,000 people had been sheltering from the months-long bombardment. The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement that the agency's guesthouse in Deir al-Balah was struck three times before Israeli forces entered the premises, separating families, men from women. Men were strip-searched and interrogated at gunpoint, Ghebreyesus said, while women were forced to evacuate with their children. The Israeli military did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the incidents. But an early internal assessment indicated that the attacks on the WHO guesthouse, which began just after noon local time, were from incoming Israeli fire, according to a U.N. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Even after the U.N. requested the Israeli military hold its fire so that staff could be evacuated, a quadcopter drone entered the guesthouse and exploded, the official said. Elsewhere in Deir al-Balah, a hub for U.N. and other aid groups, a guesthouse used by the U.N. Office for Project Services was also hit while there were 13 employees inside, the agency said. Israeli tanks targeted the same location in March, killing a veteran staffer. The Israeli ground operation in Deir al-Balah puts troops deeper into central Gaza than at any point in the 21 months of war. Israel's Army Radio reported Monday that troops from the Golani Brigade had entered the city's southern districts as part of a 'targeted' operation to increase pressure on Hamas, after 'preliminary' air and artillery strikes. The military issued displacement orders for much of Deir al-Balah on Sunday, eliminating one of the last areas of Gaza that was not declared a formal combat zone. Now, the majority of Gaza's 2.1 million people are squeezed into just 12 percent of the territory, according to the U.N., which said the Israeli maneuvers would severely restrict its already-limited movement inside Gaza, 'choking humanitarian access when it is needed most.' More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's military operations in Gaza, which began after Hamas militants launched attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. The Palestinian enclave is under a near-total Israeli blockade, leaving many residents malnourished and on the verge of starvation. Doctors report that people have started to die of hunger and are fainting from exhaustion in the streets. The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached 'astonishing levels of desperation,' Ross Smith, a senior official with the U.N. World Food Program, said Monday at a news briefing in New York. A third of people are not eating for days in a row, he said, and a quarter of the population lives in famine-like conditions. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 1,000 people have been shot dead by Israeli troops during desperate scrambles for food aid distributed by the U.S. and the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The organization's distribution sites are in or near areas of Gaza controlled by the Israeli military, which says it has opened fire using 'warning shots' after troops perceived themselves to be under threat. In a statement, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, described the GHF aid program as a 'sadistic death trap' and a 'massive hunt of people, in total impunity.' A joint statement Monday from 27 nations, including Britain, Canada and France, urged an immediate end to the war and condemned the killing of civilians seeking aid. 'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' the statement said. 'We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.' The statement called on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on aid and condemned Hamas for continuing to hold around 50 hostages kidnapped from Israel, about 20 of whom are believed to be alive. 'We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release,' the statement read. ' … We call on all parties to protect civilians and uphold the obligations of international humanitarian law.' Israel rejected the statement's description of its conduct, describing it as 'disconnected from reality' and blaming Hamas for the lack of a deal to end the war, saying the armed group was instead 'running a campaign to spread lies about Israel.' Doctors Without Borders said Monday that evacuation orders and fighting in Deir al-Balah had forced 36 of the organization's Palestinian colleagues to abruptly leave a busy health facility that had been treating an influx of patients from aid distribution sites, in order to evacuate their families. 'This new displacement order has also impacted one of the main lifelines for water distribution in southern Gaza,' it said in a statement. 'Today water distribution trucks could not reach the plant, and these orders will put at risk anyone who tries to distribute water from here in the near future.' Residents said that a large number of families had left the area under Israeli evacuation orders. 'Tanks have begun moving in the Salah al-Din Street, al-Baraka and al-Laham Street areas,' said Akram Basheer, a resident whose home was in an area outside the military evacuation zone. He said he could hear shelling and that smoke was visible above one of the nearby U.N. warehouses. Rabiha Salman, 58, said that the fighting had forced her family of nine to flee for the fifth time since the war began. 'When they announced the evacuation of the area on Sunday, we didn't think it could be real, but in the evening, when the shelling became intense, we decided to leave,' she said. She added: 'Our whole life has become displacement and suffering, for almost two years.' Loveluck reported from London and Balousha from Hamilton, Ontario. Heba Farouk Mahfouz and Siham Shamalakh in Cairo, Abbie Cheeseman in Beirut and Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
CBC
2 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Tank shelling hits houses, mosques in Deir Al-Balah as Israeli tanks push into area
Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern areas of the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes some of the remaining hostages may be held. Gaza medics said at least three Palestinians were killed and several were wounded in tank shelling that hit eight houses and three mosques in the area, and came a day after the military ordered residents to leave as it said it planned to fight Hamas militants. The raid and bombardment pushed dozens of families who had remained to flee and head west towards the coastal area of Deir Al-Balah and nearby Khan Younis. In Khan Younis, earlier on Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a man, his wife, and their two children, in a tent, medics said. In its daily update, Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 130 Palestinians had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded by Israeli gunfire and military strikes across the territory in the past 24 hours, one of the highest such totals in recent weeks. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents. Israel's military said it had not entered the districts of Deir Al-Balah subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing "to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area." Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive. Families of the hostages expressed their concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from the army of how it would protect them. Warnings of 'mass deaths' from mounting hunger The military escalation comes as Gaza health officials warned of potential "mass deaths" in the coming days due to mounting hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Health officials said hospitals were running out of fuel, food aid, and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations. Health Ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion because of hunger. In southern Gaza, the health ministry said an Israeli undercover unit had detained Marwan Al-Hams, head of Gaza's field hospitals, on Monday in a raid that killed a local journalist and wounded another outside a field medical facility run by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). An ICRC spokesperson said the Red Cross had admitted and treated patients injured in the incident but would not comment further on their status in order to protect their privacy. It said it was "very concerned about the safety and security" around the field hospital. WATCH | Dozens of Palestinians killed Sunday near aid site: Attacks near aid sites kill at least 85 in Gaza 12 hours ago The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel has raided and attacked hospitals across Gaza during the war, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes, an accusation the group denies. Sending undercover forces to carry out arrests has been rare. Israel's military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people in northern Gaza to remove what it said was "an immediate threat." It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it "certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks." The new raid and escalating number of fatalities appeared to be complicating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with U.S. backing. A Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday that the militant group was angered over the mounting deaths and the hunger crisis in the enclave, and that this could badly affect ceasefire talks underway in Qatar. Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough. UN calls on Israel to lift blockade on aid UNRWA, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, said in a post on X on Monday, it was receiving desperate messages from Gaza warning of starvation, including from its own staff as food prices have increased 40-fold. "Meanwhile, just outside Gaza, stockpiled in warehouses UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months. Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale," it said. On Sunday, the health ministry said at least 67 people were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for UN aid trucks to enter Gaza, after saying at least 36 aid seekers were killed a day earlier. Israel's military said on Sunday that it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in co-ordination with the international community." The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct.7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
SBS Australia
2 days ago
- Health
- SBS Australia
Israel launches ground assault in Gaza's Deir Al-Balah for the first time
Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern areas of the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes some of the remaining hostages may be being held. The raid and bombardment pushed dozens of families who had remained to flee and head west towards the coastal area of Deir Al-Balah and nearby Khan Younis. In Khan Younis, earlier on Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a man, his wife, and their two children, in a tent, medics said. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents. Israel's military said it had not entered the districts of Deir Al-Balah subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing "to operate with great force to destroy the enemy's capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area." Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive. Families of the hostages expressed their concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from the army of how it would protect them. The military escalation comes as Gaza health officials warned of potential "mass deaths" in the coming days due to mounting hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, according to the territory's health ministry. Health officials said hospitals were running out of fuel, food aid, and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations. Israel's military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people in northern Gaza to remove what it said was "an immediate threat." It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it "certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks." The new raid and escalating number of fatalities appeared to be complicating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with US backing. UNRWA, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, said in a post on X on Monday, it was receiving desperate messages from Gaza warning of starvation, including from its own staff as food prices have increased 40-fold. "Meanwhile, just outside Gaza, stockpiled in warehouses, UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months. Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale," it said. Israel's military said on Sunday that it "views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in coordination with the international community."
