The Irish Times view on displaced people: a crisis rapidly worsening
New figures have shown that last year war and natural disaster led to a record 83.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) worldwide, equivalent to the entire population of Germany. Around 73.5 million people were forced to move because of conflict, a 10 per cent increase on 2023,
and 9.8 million, because of 'natural' disasters,
29 per cent up. Internally displaced people stay in their own country, in contrast to refugees who move elsewhere.
The figures are more than double the level of just six years ago, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) say in their annual joint report on internal displacement, testimony to an accelerating deterioration worldwide.
The recent rise in conflicts, particularly in
Sudan,
the Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Ukraine and Palestine, has displaced millions, adding to the tens of millions already living in protracted displacement in countries such as Afghanistan, Colombia, Syria and Yemen.
More than 5 million conflict displacements occurred last year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the most of any country. In Gaza, some 90 per cent of the 2.4 million population have been forced to move by Israeli attacks, with 'some displaced 10 times or more,' UN relief agency UNRWA reports. Civil war-ravaged Sudan alone is home to a staggering 11.6 million IDPs, the most ever recorded in a single country.
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So-called 'natural' disasters and conflict-related disasters both reflect a terrible failure by humanity to manage its own affairs. Much of the aggravated weather causing 'natural disasters' is attributable to man-made global warming – some 11 million US residents had to relocate, for example, because of hurricanes, floods and wildfires.
The number of countries reporting both conflict and disaster displacement has tripled in 15 years, with more than three-quarters of people internally displaced by conflict living in countries that are very vulnerable to climate change. People in large parts on the planet, in other words, are terribly exposed.
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Irish Times
08-06-2025
- Irish Times
From relief to horror: Gazans met with gunfire at aid sites
It was their sixth attempt in a week, a perilous trek down Gaza's southern coast towards a US-backed food distribution site. Abed Zaydan (14), and his mother Reem hoped that, this time, they would arrive before the food ran out. Eight hours into their walk on Tuesday, as they neared the centre, the sound of tank and gunfire erupted. Zaydan saw dead bodies at his feet. He lay face down on the ground next to them with his sister and mother, waiting for first light. People began to whisper that it might be safe to move. From the ground, Zaydan saw his mother start to stand up, before a sniper bullet felled her with a shot to the head. 'Because I'm young, I got scared and left my mother,' he said. 'I ran away.' Zaydan is one of eight Palestinians who spoke to the Financial Times about their attempt to reach the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site in western Rafah over the past week. Their twilight journeys thronged with thousands of people, hoping to get close to the aid centre before its 5am opening time so they might have a chance to get food. READ MORE For Palestinians , desperate for supplies after Israel imposed a more than two-month blockade on the strip, their attempts to get food from GHF brought more horror than relief. Each day was different, but the dangers they described were the same. Tanks, quadcopter drones, and snipers, which they said came from the Israeli army, fired on Palestinians waiting for the site to open. For telecoms worker Ehab Jomaa, it was 4am on Sunday when shooting flared up at Al-Alam roundabout, the final point at which people waited before sprinting to the distribution site. Displaced Palestinians on their way to and from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on June 5th. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images Many tried to reach the distribution site several days in a row, despite the killings. They were so hungry after Israel's siege that they kept trying He and five friends took cover in the ruins of a bombed-out beach hotel. They turned off their phones, and stayed quiet. Then a quadcopter appeared, and started to fire warning shots. 'It turned on its microphone and said: 'You must leave, we'll shoot you.' As soon as we stood up and got ready to leave, it moved to a different area,' Jomaa said. 'It shot a boy seven metres away from us in the chest.' Witnesses who spoke to the Financial Times said the run down the final stretch to the distribution site began around 5am. Those who arrived at the site often found all the food already gone. Many tried to reach the distribution site several days in a row, despite the killings. They were so hungry after Israel's siege that they kept trying. The casualties were heaviest on two days. Israeli forces killed 27 people and injured 161 waiting for aid on Tuesday morning, Gaza's ministry of health said. On the previous Sunday, it said 35 people were killed and more than 150 injured by Israeli fire on crowds gathered in the Al-Alam area. All of those killed on the Sunday were shot in the head or chest, the ministry said. Displaced Palestinians walk along a road to receive humanitarian aid packages in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images The International Committee of the Red Cross said its Rafah field hospital received about 180 patients on each of the two days, with the majority suffering gunshot wounds. All of them said they were trying to reach a distribution site. Israel disputed the health ministry's characterisation of the shootings, but acknowledged it had fired 'warning' – and on Tuesday 'additional' – shots at people who it said had strayed from the designated access route or approached troops. An Israeli security official said some shootings had taken place outside the hours of operation of the GHF sites, when the surrounding areas were classified as 'a war zone that [civilians] are not meant to be in'. The official added that changes to the access routes were being made to make them safer. The IDF has also claimed some of the shots were fired by Hamas. On his fifth journey to the distribution site, 45-year-old Hossam Zorab on Tuesday watched as his friend was shot in the head a short distance ahead of him. Zorab could not save him, and he was determined to find food for his eight children, so he waited with others to rush to the site. There was no check-in system or effective entrance, he said. The crowds were instead kept at bay by the gunfire. 'There is no gate, but from 2am to 5am there is constant shooting. The shooting is the gate.' Inside the distribution centres, boxes of cans and oil on the sandy floor were ripped open and people took what they could. Foreign mercenaries laughed as they observed the scene, according to two witnesses. Palestinian contractors in fluorescent vests looked on. GHF did not respond to a request for comment, but has previously said the shooting occurred outside its distribution sites. Palestinians with humanitarian aid packages in Rafa. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images Ashraf Abu Shbaker, a father of six, went to the site three times: Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. But every time he reached the site, everything was already taken. He tried to ask one of the security contractors on Tuesday why there was nothing left. He said the contractor pepper sprayed him in the face. Three other witnesses, including one who was sprayed himself, said the contractors used spray and sound grenades within the site. 'Today, I didn't want to go. I'm tired,' Abu Shbaker said. 'If you want to starve people, go ahead, but don't debase us like this.' Abed Zaydan scoured hospitals hoping to find his wounded mother, imagining her face alive and in an ICU bed. He was at Nasser hospital when a paramedic arrived with three unidentified dead women. Zaydan knew one of them. 'This isn't aid,' Zaydan said. 'It's a mouse trap.' – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Irish Times
04-06-2025
- Irish Times
International aid ship en route to Gaza will be stopped, warns Israeli military
A ship belonging to an international non-profit organisation is nearing the critical stage of its journey to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza after a previous attempt failed due to a drone attack on a separate vessel in the Mediterranean. By Wednesday, Madleen, which belongs to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), had covered more than 700km of its 2,000km journey, skirting Greek territorial waters and entering the eastern Mediterranean. It set sail from the Italian port of Catania on Sunday. Israel's army radio has said the Madleen will be prevented from reaching Gaza. Last month the ship Conscience, carrying aid to Gaza, was crippled by drone strikes in international waters off Malta. The FFC blamed Israel for the attack. READ MORE The FFC says it wants to raise awareness of the conflict in Gaza and deliver urgently needed aid to the strip. The ship is carrying baby formula, flour, rice, nappies, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches and children's prosthetics. Among its 12-member crew is prominent Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan. Before departure, Thunberg said: 'We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying. Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity. And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it's not even near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide.' Although facing a case of genocide at the International Court of Justice, Israel has strongly denied the accusation and claimed its 19-month military campaign in Gaza is to rescue Israeli captives and eliminate Hamas, which killed 1,200 people and abducted another 250 from southern Israel on October 7th, 2023. Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza on March 2nd, halting supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel and abandoning the three-month ceasefire on March 18th. [ Ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists to Gaza attacked by drones, NGO says Opens in new window ] In more than 600 days of war, 54,510 Palestinians have been killed and 125,000 wounded, Gaza's Hamas-run health authority has reported. In August 2008, the Free Gaza Movement mounted the first maritime missions to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza, which was tightened a year earlier when Hamas seized power. In August 2008, two Greek fishing boats, the Free Gaza and the SS Liberty, set sail from Larnaca in Cyprus. Carrying hearing aids for children, the boats were greeted by thousands of Gazans and spent a week in the strip. In October 2008, the movement's yacht Dignity sailed from Cyprus to Gaza's fishing port with medical supplies. Two months later, during Israel's 2008-2009 war on Gaza, Dignity, carrying 3.5 tonnes of medical aid, was rammed and forced to dock in Lebanon. Activists blamed Israeli naval ships. In May 2010, the Free Gaza Movement, the Turkish Relief Foundation and other humanitarian organisations mounted the largest challenge to Israel's blockade, with three cargo ships laden with basic supplies and four vessels carrying 600 passengers. Helicopter-borne Israeli commandos attacked the former Istanbul ferry Mavi Marmara, killing nine activists and wounding several dozen. Israel said several soldiers were injured, one seriously. Israel called the raid a 'clear case of self-defence.' – Additional reporting: Reuters
Irish Times
04-06-2025
- Irish Times
Gaza aid group halts distribution as Israel says roads leading to sites are ‘combat zones'
The US -backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) will not give out any aid on Wednesday as it says it is pressing Israel to boost civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its distribution sites, a day after dozens of Palestinians seeking aid were killed. The GHF said it has asked the Israeli military to 'guide foot traffic in a way that minimises confusion or escalation risks' near military perimeters; develop clearer guidance for civilians; and enhance training to support civilian safety. 'Our top priority remains ensuring the safety and dignity of civilians receiving aid,' said a GHF spokesperson. An Israeli military spokesperson warned civilians against moving in areas leading to GHF sites on Wednesday, deeming them 'combat zones'. The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it opened fire on a group of people it viewed as a threat near a GHF food aid distribution site. The International Committee of the Red Cross said at least 27 people were killed and dozens injured . The GHF said the incident was 'well beyond' its site. READ MORE Palestinians who collected GHF food boxes on Tuesday described scenes of pandemonium, with no one overseeing the handover of supplies or checking IDs, as crowds jostled for aid. The UN Security Council is also set to vote on Wednesday on a demand for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas and humanitarian access across Gaza, where aid has trickled amid chaos and bloodshed after Israel lifted an 11-week blockade on the enclave where famine looms. 'It is unacceptable. Civilians are risking – and in several instances losing – their lives just trying to get food,' UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday, adding that the aid distribution model backed by the US and Israel was 'all a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what is going on'. That model is run by the newly created GHF, which started operations in the enclave a week ago and said on Tuesday that it has given out more than seven million meals from three so-called secure distribution sites. GHF interim executive director John Acree urged humanitarians in Gaza: 'Work with us and we will get your aid delivered to those who are depending on it.' The UN and other aid groups have refused to work with the GHF because they say it is not neutral and the distribution model militarises aid. GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get aid to the distribution sites. It is the latest in a string of efforts to get more aid into the enclave, where experts say the entire population of some 2.1 million people is at risk of famine. Jordan last year spearheaded humanitarian air drops, while the US briefly installed a floating aid pier, but it was beset by challenges. The UN has long-blamed Israel and lawlessness in the enclave for hindering the delivery of aid into Gaza and its distribution throughout the war zone. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies. Israel said on Tuesday that three of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in northern Gaza. Gaza health officials said at least 18 more Palestinians were killed in other military strikes in the territory on Tuesday. Reuters could not independently verify the reports in northern and southern Gaza. The 10 elected members of the UN Security Council have asked for the 15-member body to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution that demands 'an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties'. The draft text, seen by Reuters, also demands the release of all hostages held by Hamas and others, and the immediate lifting of all restrictions on the entry of aid and its safe and unhindered distribution, including by the UN, throughout Gaza. 'The time to act has already passed,' Slovenia's UN ambassador Samuel Zbogar told Reuters. 'It is our historical responsibility not to remain silent.' [ Pro-Palestinian detainee in Israel: 'How they treated us is nothing compared to how they treat even Palestinian children' Opens in new window ] As US president Donald Trump's administration tries to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, it was not immediately clear if Washington would veto the draft text. A spokesperson for the US mission to the UN said: 'We cannot preview our actions currently under consideration.' A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the permanent members – the US, Russia, China, UK and France – to pass. The war in Gaza has raged since 2023 after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel in an October 7th attack and took some 250 hostages back to the enclave, according to Israeli tallies. Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, which do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants. – Reuters
