Latest news with #foodAid
The Guardian
13-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Dozens of Palestinians killed in latest Israeli attacks near food aid distribution site, medics and witnesses say
Dozens of Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks while trying to get food aid in Gaza on Saturday, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said, while progress in talks aimed at securing a ceasefire appeared to be stalling. At least 31 Palestinians were killed on their way to a distribution site run by the Israeli-backed American organisation Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) near Rafah in southern Gaza, officials and witnesses said, according to the Associated Press. Reuters reported that 17 people were killed, citing medics, while Al Jazeera reported that 34 people were killed in the al-Shakoush area, in front of one of the GHF sites, when Israeli troops opened fire. It was not possible to independently verify the numbers as Israel does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza. It was the latest mass shooting around a US-backed aid distribution system that the UN says has resulted in 800 people killed in six weeks. Witnesses who spoke to Reuters described people being shot in the head and torso. Reuters saw several bodies of victims wrapped in white shrouds as family members wept at Nasser hospital. The Red Cross said its field hospital saw its largest influx of dead in more than a year of operation after the shootings, and that the overwhelming majority of the more than 100 people hurt had gunshot wounds. Israel's military said it fired warning shots towards people it said were behaving suspiciously to prevent them from approaching. It said it was not aware of any casualties. The GHF said no incident occurred near its sites. Israeli airstrikes in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza meanwhile killed 13 Palestinians including four children, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital said. Fifteen others were killed in Khan Younis in the south, according to Nasser hospital. Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Associated Press reported. Intense airstrikes continued on Saturday evening in the area of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. The 21-month war has left much of Gaza's population of more than 2 million reliant on outside aid while food security experts warn of famine. Israel blocked and then restricted aid entry after breaking the latest ceasefire in March. 'All responsive individuals reported they were attempting to access food distribution sites,' the Red Cross said after the shootings near Rafah, noting the 'alarming frequency and scale' of such mass casualty incidents. 'We were sitting there, and suddenly there was shooting towards us. For five minutes we were trapped under fire. The shooting was targeted. It was not random. Some people were shot in the head, some in the torso, one guy next to me was shot directly in the heart,' eyewitness Mahmoud Makram told Reuters. 'There is no mercy there, no mercy. People go because they are hungry but they die and come back in body bags.' Abdullah al-Haddad told Associated Press he was 200 metres from the aid distribution site run by the GHF close to the Shakoush area when an Israeli tank started firing at crowds of Palestinians. 'We were together, and they shot us at once,' he said, writhing in pain from a leg wound at Nasser hospital. Mohammed Jamal al-Sahloo, another witness, said Israel's military had ordered them to proceed to the site when the shooting started. The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire continued throughout Saturday, an Israeli official told Reuters, seven days since talks began. US president Donald Trump has said he hoped for a breakthrough soon based on a new US-backed ceasefire proposal. One Palestinian source told Agence France-Presse that Israel's refusal to accept Hamas's demand for a complete withdrawal of troops from Gaza was holding back progress in the talks. A second source said mediators had asked both sides to postpone discussions until Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrives in the Qatari capital. 'Hamas's delegation will not accept the Israeli maps … as they essentially legitimise the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement,' the first source said. A senior Israeli political official claimed later that it was Hamas that rejected what was on the table, accusing the group of 'creating obstacles' and 'refusing to compromise' with the aim of 'sabotaging the negotiations'. Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in their 7 October 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war and abducted 251. Hamas still holds some 50 hostages, with at least 20 believed to remain alive. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 57,800 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry. The UN and other international organisations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. It does not include the thousands thought to be buried under the rubble or those who have died of the indirect consequences of the war.
Al Arabiya
30-06-2025
- General
- Al Arabiya
Sudan refugees face deepening hunger as funds dwindle: UN
Millions of people displaced by the war in Sudan are at risk of falling deeper into crisis as funding for food aid dwindles, the UN's World Food Program warned Monday. Since April 2023, war between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has created the world's largest displacement crisis, with more than 10 million people displaced inside the country. Another four million have fled across borders, mainly to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan. 'This is a full-blown regional crisis that's playing out in countries that already have extreme levels of food insecurity and high levels of conflict,' said Shaun Hughes, WFP's emergency coordinator for the Sudan regional crisis. The United Nations says its humanitarian response plan for Sudan -- also the world's largest hunger crisis -- is only 14.4 percent funded. A UN conference in Spain this week aims to rally international donors, following deep funding shortfalls that have affected relief operations globally. The WFP warned support to Sudanese refugees in Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya and the Central African Republic 'may grind to a halt in the coming months as resources run dry.' In Egypt, which hosts around 1.5 million people who fled Sudan, food aid for 85,000 refugees -- 36 percent of those previously supported -- had already been cut. Without new funding, the WFP warned, all assistance to the most vulnerable refugees would be suspended by August. In Chad, where more than 850,000 people have fled but find little help in overwhelmed camps, the WFP said food rations would be reduced even further. Around 1,000 refugees continue to arrive in Chad each day from Sudan's western Darfur region, where famine has already been declared and displacement camps regularly come under attack. 'Refugees from Sudan are fleeing for their lives and yet are being met with more hunger, despair, and limited resources on the other side of the border,' said Hughes. 'Food assistance is a lifeline for vulnerable refugee families with nowhere else to turn.' Inside Sudan, more than eight million people are estimated to be on the brink of famine, with nearly 25 million suffering dire food insecurity.
Arab News
30-06-2025
- General
- Arab News
Sudan refugees face deepening hunger as funds dry up: UN
KHARTOUM: Millions of people displaced by the war in Sudan are at risk of falling deeper into crisis as funding for food aid dwindles, the UN's World Food Programme warned Monday. Since April 2023, war between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has created the world's largest displacement crisis, with more than 10 million people displaced inside the country. Another four million have fled across borders, mainly to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan. 'This is a full-blown regional crisis that's playing out in countries that already have extreme levels of food insecurity and high levels of conflict,' said Shaun Hughes, WFP's emergency coordinator for the Sudan regional crisis. The United Nations says its humanitarian response plan for Sudan — also the world's largest hunger crisis — is only 14.4 percent funded. A UN conference in Spain this week aims to rally international donors, following deep funding shortfalls that have affected relief operations globally. The WFP warned support to Sudanese refugees in Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya and the Central African Republic 'may grind to a halt in the coming months as resources run dry.' In Egypt, which hosts around 1.5 million people who fled Sudan, food aid for 85,000 refugees — 36 percent of those previously supported — had already been cut. Without new funding, the WFP warned, all assistance to the most vulnerable refugees would be suspended by August. In Chad, where more than 850,000 people have fled but find little help in overwhelmed camps, the WFP said food rations would be reduced even further. Around 1,000 refugees continue to arrive in Chad each day from Sudan's western Darfur region, where famine has already been declared and displacement camps regularly come under attack. 'Refugees from Sudan are fleeing for their lives and yet are being met with more hunger, despair, and limited resources on the other side of the border,' said Hughes. 'Food assistance is a lifeline for vulnerable refugee families with nowhere else to turn.' Inside Sudan, more than eight million people are estimated to be on the brink of famine, with nearly 25 million suffering dire food insecurity.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gaza civil defence says Israeli forces kill 37, including children
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed 37 people in the devastated territory on Saturday, including at least nine children who died in strikes. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP 35 people were killed in seven Israeli drone and air strikes in various locations, and two others by Israeli fire while waiting for food aid in the Netzarim zone in central Gaza. He said the dead included three children who were killed in an air strike on a home in Jabalia, in northern Gaza. Bassal said at least six more children died in a neighbourhood in the northeast of Gaza City, including some in an air strike near a school where displaced people were sheltering. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment by Saturday evening. As international criticism mounted over civilian deaths in Gaza, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Saturday that his country "stands ready, Europe as well, to contribute to the safety of food distribution" in Gaza. Such an initiative, he added, would also deal with Israeli concerns that armed groups such as Hamas were intercepting the aid. Barrot did not provide any details on how France could help secure aid distribution to Gaza's civilians. Restrictions on media in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers. AFP images showed mourners weeping over the bodies of seven people, including at least two children, wrapped in white shrouds and blankets at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Video footage filmed from southern Israel showed smoke rising over northern Gaza after blasts. Other AFP footage filmed in Gaza City showed a cloud of smoke rising from buildings after a strike. In Jabalia, an AFP photographer saw civil defence rescuers aiding a man with blood on his back. - Gaza ceasefire drive - Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in October 2023 in response to a deadly attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas. After claiming victory in a 12-day war against Iran that ended with a ceasefire on June 24, the Israeli military said it would refocus on its offensive in Gaza, where Palestinian militants still hold Israeli hostages. Qatar said on Saturday that it and fellow mediators the United States and Egypt were engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from the ceasefire with Iran and work towards a Gaza truce. "If we don't utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it's an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don't want to see that again," said Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari. Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,412 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable. bur-gv/jj
SBS Australia
26-06-2025
- Sport
- SBS Australia
NITV Radio News - 25/06/2025
NITV Radio news, sport and weather. Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading to sites for food. Sam Kerr appears at Matilda's training in Perth ahead of Slovenian games. That and more in the NITV Radio News.
