Latest news with #civilian deaths
Al Arabiya
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
‘Extremely high' risk of serious abuses amid expanded Israel Gaza operation: UN
Israeli displacement orders, followed by intensive attacks, on Deir al-Balah in Gaza will lead to further civilian deaths, the head of the UN human rights office said on Tuesday. 'It seemed the nightmare couldn't possibly get worse. And yet it the concentration of civilians in the area, and the means and methods of warfare employed by Israel until now, the risks of unlawful killings and other serious violations of international humanitarian law are extremely high,' Volker Turk, the head of the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights said on Tuesday in a statement.
CNN
a day ago
- Health
- CNN
Western nations slam Israel's ‘drip feeding of aid' to Gaza as health ministry says 1,000 killed seeking supplies
The foreign ministers of 25 Western nations have slammed Israel for 'drip feeding' aid into the Gaza Strip, as the health ministry in the territory said that more than 1,000 people have been killed seeking humanitarian relief there since late May. The Palestinian health ministry did not specify the location of the deaths, but according to the United Nations, most casualties occurred while people were making their way to aid distribution sites operated by the controversial Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which began operating on May 27. Palestinian officials and witnesses have said the Israeli military is responsible for most of those deaths. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has acknowledged firing warning shots toward crowds in some instances, and denied responsibility for other incidents. In late June, the military said it had 'reorganized' the approach routes to aid sites to minimize 'friction with the population,' but the killings have continued. In their Monday statement, the Western foreign ministers said that 'the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.' 'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. 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,' they said. The foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom signed the statement, alongside the European Union's commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management. According to the health ministry in Gaza, 99 people were killed and at least 650 were injured while attempting to get aid in the last 24 hours. A total of 1,021 people have been killed and 6,511 wounded seeking supplies since late May, the ministry said, adding that the total death toll since the war began is now at 59,029. Between March 2 and May 21, Israel imposed an 11-week blockade on aid to the Gaza Strip, and UN agencies have since sounded the alarm about growing levels of starvation and malnutrition in the territory. Aid organizations are still mostly restricted from entering the enclave, with Israel claiming that it is doing this to prevent Hamas from stealing supplies. The foreign ministers said it was 'horrifying' that so many Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid. 'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,' they said. They urged the Israeli government to immediately lift its restrictions on aid into Gaza and allow humanitarian organizations, including the UN, to carry out work there 'safely and effectively.' In a post on X, Israel's foreign ministry said that it 'rejects' the statement published by the 25 nations, calling it 'disconnected from reality' and adding that it 'sends the wrong message to Hamas.' 'The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognize Hamas' role and responsibility for the situation. Hamas is the sole party responsible for the continuation of the war and the suffering on both sides,' the Israeli statement said.
CNN
a day ago
- Health
- CNN
Western nations slam Israel's ‘drip feeding of aid' to Gaza as health ministry says 1,000 killed seeking supplies
The foreign ministers of 25 Western nations have slammed Israel for 'drip feeding' aid into the Gaza Strip, as the health ministry in the territory said that more than 1,000 people have been killed seeking humanitarian relief there since late May. The Palestinian health ministry did not specify the location of the deaths, but according to the United Nations, most casualties occurred while people were making their way to aid distribution sites operated by the controversial Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which began operating on May 27. Palestinian officials and witnesses have said the Israeli military is responsible for most of those deaths. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has acknowledged firing warning shots toward crowds in some instances, and denied responsibility for other incidents. In late June, the military said it had 'reorganized' the approach routes to aid sites to minimize 'friction with the population,' but the killings have continued. In their Monday statement, the Western foreign ministers said that 'the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.' 'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. 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,' they said. The foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom signed the statement, alongside the European Union's commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management. According to the health ministry in Gaza, 99 people were killed and at least 650 were injured while attempting to get aid in the last 24 hours. A total of 1,021 people have been killed and 6,511 wounded seeking supplies since late May, the ministry said, adding that the total death toll since the war began is now at 59,029. Between March 2 and May 21, Israel imposed an 11-week blockade on aid to the Gaza Strip, and UN agencies have since sounded the alarm about growing levels of starvation and malnutrition in the territory. Aid organizations are still mostly restricted from entering the enclave, with Israel claiming that it is doing this to prevent Hamas from stealing supplies. The foreign ministers said it was 'horrifying' that so many Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid. 'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,' they said. They urged the Israeli government to immediately lift its restrictions on aid into Gaza and allow humanitarian organizations, including the UN, to carry out work there 'safely and effectively.' In a post on X, Israel's foreign ministry said that it 'rejects' the statement published by the 25 nations, calling it 'disconnected from reality' and adding that it 'sends the wrong message to Hamas.' 'The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognize Hamas' role and responsibility for the situation. Hamas is the sole party responsible for the continuation of the war and the suffering on both sides,' the Israeli statement said.
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Gaza officials say Israel killed at least 93 civilians desperately seeking food aid
GAZA CITY, July 21 — Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on crowds of Palestinians trying to collect humanitarian aid in the war-torn Palestinian territory on Sunday, killing 93 people and wounding dozens more. Eighty were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north, while nine others were reported shot near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier. Four were killed near another aid site in Khan Yunis, also in the south, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP. The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid 'encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire' near Gaza City, soon after it crossed from Israel and cleared checkpoints. Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat posed to them' as thousands gathered near Gaza City. Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Israeli fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centres. The UN said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys. A horse-driven cart carrying injured people arrives at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 20, 2025. — AFP pic Like 'hunting animals' In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater, 36, told AFP he had rushed to try to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd of thousands and 'deadly overcrowding and pushing'. 'The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and Israeli sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest,' he added. 'Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone.' The WFP condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as 'completely unacceptable'. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. The army says it works to avoid harm to civilians, and that this month it issued new instructions to its troops on the ground 'following lessons learned' from a spate of similar incidents. Israel on Sunday withdrew the residency permit of head of the OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) office in Israel, Jonathan Whittall, who has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a post to X, accused him of spreading lies about the war in Gaza. A young altar server holds his hands in prayer during Sunday morning mass at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City on July 20, 2025. — AFP pic Papal call The war was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday expressed his regret to Pope Leo XIV after what he described as a 'stray' munition killed three people sheltering at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City. At the end of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, the pope slammed the 'barbarity' of the Gaza war and called for peace, days after the Israeli strike on the territory's only Catholic church. The strike was part of the 'ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza', he added. The Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, held mass at the Gaza church on Sunday after travelling to the devastated territory in a rare visit on Friday. 'Expanding' operations Most of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war and there have been repeated evacuation calls across large parts of the coastal enclave. On Sunday morning, the Israeli military told residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area to move south immediately due to imminent operations in the area. Whole families were seen carrying what few belongings they have on packed donkey carts heading south. 'They threw leaflets at us and we don't know where we are going and we don't have shelter or anything,' one man told AFP. The displacement order was 'another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip', the UN OCHA said on Sunday. According to the aid agency, 87.8 per cent of Gaza is now under displacement orders or within Israeli militarized zones, leaving '2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12 per cent of the Strip, where essential services have collapsed.' The army's latest announcement prompted concern from families of hostages held since October 7, 2023 that the Israeli offensive could harm their loved ones. Delegations from Israel and militant group Hamas have spent the last two weeks in indirect talks on a proposed 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of 10 living hostages. Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. — AFP
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Gaza civil defence says Israeli fire kills 67 aid seekers
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians trying to collect humanitarian aid in the territory's north on Sunday, killing 67 people and wounding dozens more. The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid "encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire", soon after it crossed the border from Israel and cleared checkpoints. Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat posed to them" as thousands gathered near Gaza City. Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Israeli fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centres. The UN said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys. In the southern Gaza Strip, the civil defence agency said six others were killed on Sunday near an aid distribution centre northwest of Rafah, where dozens of people lost their lives a day earlier. - 'Sniper' fire - In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater, 36, told AFP he had rushed to try to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd of thousands and "deadly overcrowding and pushing". "The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and Israeli sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest," he added. "Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone." Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the death toll was 67 and expected to rise while the WFP condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as "completely unacceptable". Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. The army has maintained that it works to avoid harm to civilians, saying this month that it issued new instructions to its troops on the ground "following lessons learned" from a spate of similar incidents. - Papal call - The war was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday expressed his regret to Pope Leo XIV after what he described as a "stray" munition killed three people sheltering at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City. At the end of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, the pope slammed the "barbarity" of the Gaza war and called for peace, days after the Israeli strike on the territory's only Catholic church. The strike was part of the "ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza", he added. "I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations." The Catholic Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, held mass at the Gaza church on Sunday after travelling to the devastated territory in a rare visit on Friday. - 'Expanding' operations - Most of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war and there have been repeated evacuation calls across large parts of the coastal enclave. On Sunday morning, the Israeli military told residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area to move south immediately. Israel was "expanding its activities" against Hamas around Deir el-Balah, "where it has not operated before", the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X. The announcement prompted concern from families of hostages held since October 7, 2023 that the Israeli offensive could harm their loved ones. Delegations from Israel and militant group Hamas have spent the last two weeks in indirect talks on a proposed 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of 10 living hostages. Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
