Israel kills at least 58 people in Gaza, many at US-backed aid site: Medics
Israeli fire and air strikes have killed at least 58 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, most of them near an aid distribution site operated by the United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to local health authorities, the latest deaths of people desperately seeking food for their hungry families.
Medics at al-Awda and Al-Aqsa hospitals in central Gaza, where most of the casualties were moved to, said at least 15 people were killed on Saturday as they tried to approach the GHF aid distribution site near the so-called Netzarim Corridor.
The rest were killed in separate attacks across the besieged and bombarded enclave, they added. Since the GHF started operations last month, at least 274 people have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded near aid distribution sites, according to a statement by the Gaza Ministry of Health.
The GHF said they were closed on Saturday. But witnesses said thousands of people had gathered near the sites anyway, desperate for food as Israel's punishing 15-week blockade and military campaign have driven the territory to the brink of famine.
Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said Palestinians are starting to see GHF distribution hubs as 'execution sites,' considering the repeated attacks there. But people in Gaza 'have run out of options, and they are forced to travel to these dangerous humanitarian spaces to get aid'.
Israel imposed a full humanitarian blockade on Gaza on March 2 for 11 weeks, cutting off food, medical supplies and other aid.
It began allowing small amounts of aid into the enclave in late May following international pressure, but humanitarian organisations say it is only a tiny fraction of the aid that is needed.
There has been no immediate comment by the Israeli military or the GHF on Saturday's incidents.
The GHF – a United States and Israel-backed organisation led by Johnnie Moore, an evangelical Christian who advised US President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign – began distributing food packages in Gaza on May 27, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral.
Israel and the United States say the new system is intended to replace the UN-run network. They have accused Hamas, without providing evidence, of siphoning off the UN-provided aid and reselling it to fund its military activities.
Israel has also admitted to backing armed gangs in Gaza, known for criminal activities, to undermine Hamas. These groups have been blamed for looting aid.
UN officials deny Hamas has diverted significant amounts of aid and say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs. They say it has militarised aid by allowing Israel to decide who has access and by forcing Palestinians to travel long distances or relocate again after waves of displacement.
Later on Saturday, the Israeli military ordered residents of Khan Younis and the nearby towns of Abasan and Bani Suheila in the southern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and head west towards the so-called humanitarian zone area, saying it would forcefully work against 'terror organizations' in the area.
More than 80 percent of the Gaza Strip is now within the Israeli-militarised zone, under forced displacement orders, or where these overlap, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The UN estimates that nearly 665,000 people have been displaced yet again since Israel broke the ceasefire in February.
Israel's war on Gaza and its population has killed more than 55,290 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the densely populated Strip, which is home to more than two million people. Most of the population is displaced and malnutrition is widespread.
Despite efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to restore a ceasefire in Gaza, neither Israel nor Hamas has shown willingness to back down on core demands, including that Israel implement a permanent ceasefire and not restart the war.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
US-backed Gaza aid group says people 'desperately need more aid'
A privately run aid organisation brought in to distribute food rations in war-hit Gaza last month with US and Israeli backing said on Saturday that people in the Palestinian territory "desperately need more aid". The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operations at the end of May when Israel eased a two-month blockade on Gaza that the United Nations said had produced famine-like conditions. The foundation's operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and neutrality concerns, while many Gazans have been left with few other options to obtain food. In a statement on Saturday, GHF interim executive director John Acree said that the organisation was "delivering aid at scale, securely and effectively... But we cannot meet the full scale of need while large parts of Gaza remain closed." He added: "The people of Gaza desperately need more aid and we are ready to partner with other humanitarian groups to expand our reach to those who need help the most." "We are working with the government of Israel to honour its commitment and open additional sites in northern Gaza." According to figures issued on Saturday by the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, at least 450 people have been killed and nearly 3,500 injured by Israeli fire while seeking aid since late May, many near GHF sites according to rescuers. GHF has denied responsibility for deaths near its aid points, contradicting statements from witnesses and Gaza rescue services. It has said deaths have occurred near UN food convoys. Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that Israeli troops had killed another eight people who were seeking food. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that three people were killed by gunfire in the southern Gaza Strip, with another five killed in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, where thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving rations from a GHF centre. Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and authorities. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. On Tuesday, the UN's World Health Organization pleaded for fuel to be allowed into Gaza to keep its remaining hospitals running, warning the Palestinian territory's health system was at "breaking point". adp/ami
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Gaza rescuers say Israeli fire kills 8 near aid centres, 4 others
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed at least 12 people on Saturday, including eight who had gathered near aid distribution sites in the Palestinian territory suffering severe food shortages. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that three people were killed by gunfire from Israeli forces while waiting to collect aid in the southern Gaza Strip. In a separate incident, Bassal said five people were killed in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, where thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations. The Israeli army told AFP it was "looking into" both incidents, which according to the civil defence agency occurred near distribution centres run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Its operations began at the end of May -- when Israel eased a total aid blockade that lasted more than two months -- but have been marred by chaotic scenes and neutrality concerns. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said on Saturday that 450 people had been killed and 3,466 others injured while seeking aid in near-daily incidents since late May. The Israeli blockade imposed in early March amid an impasse in truce negotiations had produced famine-like conditions across Gaza, according to rights groups. Israel's military has pressed its operations across Gaza more than 20 months since an unprecedented Hamas attack triggered the devastating war, and even as attention has shifted to the war with Iran since June 13. Bassal told AFP that three people were killed on Saturday in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City in the north, and one more in another strike on the southern city of Khan Yunis. Israeli forces also demolished more than 10 houses in Gaza City "by detonating them with explosives", he added. Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and authorities. Earlier this week, the UN's World Health Organization warned that Gaza's health system was at a "breaking point", pleading for fuel to be allowed into the territory to keep its remaining hospitals running. The Hamas attack in October 2023 that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 55,908 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable. az-crb-lba/adp/ami
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Harvard researcher's work gives ‘hope' for Parkinson's. But the feds cut his funding
When Bence Ölveczky came to the U.S. from Hungary at the age of 28, it was the first place he didn't feel like a foreigner. 'This is a unique country because it's a country of immigrants. And that's why I felt at home; because nobody cared,' he told MassLive, during a recent interview in his office. The U.S. drew him because of its 'unparalleled scientific infrastructure' and collaboration between the government and its universities. However, it feels like the climate is changing. 'It's made America great,' Ölveczky, who holds a Ph.D. , said. 'And now we are sort of willingly giving up on that. That's the tragic part of this.' As a professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, he is feeling the ways the Trump administration is attacking not only the institution where he works but also his research. " The research that we are doing — it is not Harvard research," he said. ' We are doing government research.' The Trump administration has frozen or cut nearly $3 billion in federal funding to Harvard, citing antisemitism at the university. The administration has claimed the university failed to protect Jewish students, particularly in the wake of the war in Gaza. Read more: Federal judge delays decision over Trump admin barring Harvard foreign students At the same time, the federal government has revoked most of the institutions' research grants. This has a significant impact on Ölveczky's lab, which uses rats to better understand how the brain learns new motor skills and generates more complex behaviors. It also has the potential to affect an entire generation of researchers who may decide not to come to the U.S. or to Harvard because of the federal government's actions, he said. Two of his federal grants were terminated by the National Institutes of Health in May. His lab focuses on addressing the function of the basal ganglia, which goes awry in people with Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease, according to a court filing in an ongoing lawsuit against the Trump administration. With more time, his work could help inform rehabilitation therapeutics for people with those diseases or even those who have had strokes, he said. 'It's an inspiration to me that we could help in the treatment of these,' he said. Taking an elevator to the basement in a Harvard building, passing through white door after white door, there are several rooms filled with rats. Some are kept in clear cages behind closed cabinets. Opening one of the cabinets, two black and white rats in separate cages appear. One with wires attached to its head immediately walks to the front of its clear cage to put its nose and minuscule teeth through a hole at the front. Other rats are stacked high, while not undergoing testing or recuperating from surgery, sometimes even doubled up in a cage for socialization, snuggled up next to each other. Each rat is taught a task. One task is pressing down on a joystick at a certain angle for a reward. 'Some of these animals have been in their training for a year or more,' Ölveczky said. The rats do these tasks so the researchers can better understand how complex behaviors are generated by the brain. However, the lab is also researching how autism affects brain function and behavior. They had planned to apply for federal funding for this work, which has been privately funded that is ending this year. Read more: As federal funding cuts hit Harvard, a private investment firm and other donors step up In collaboration with the University of Washington, Stanford University and the Salk Institute, the lab has also created a virtual rodent controlled through an artificial neural network, according to Ölveczky's court affidavit. It is able to be trained to mimic the behavior of real animals and has the potential to transform how researchers study the brain by comparing hypothesis testing through the virtual rodent and juxtaposing it to experiments in real animals, he said. By studying rats at the Ölveczky Lab, it is also ultimately about giving families who are struggling with Parkinson's or stroke hope for recovery, he said. 'To some degree, knowing that there are people out there working on the mechanisms that underlie the disease, particularly for neurodevelopmental disorders like autism or childhood disorders ... I think give folks hope,' he said There is so much more that could be learned in the lab, Ölveczky said. Nobody knew that studying the saliva of a lizard would lead to the 'most revolutionary obesity drug,' he said, referring to Ozempic. 'The bargain this country made was to invest in basic research and understand that the rewards are going to accumulate over time. And this is also why normal tax-paying Americans won't necessarily feel the immediate effects of any of these funding cuts,' he said. 'What you would have to do is compare the alternative reality — the reality when there was no research — versus the reality where there is research, and those two are very different. But that would become apparent in some years from now," he said. Ölveczky has been looking for non-federal funding. However, that is even more difficult as other institutions are experiencing a scaling back of funding as well. The lab may not be able to finish its experiments, analyze its data or write publications without federal funding, according to Ölveczky's affidavit. Slashing research funding isn't about saving money for the U.S., Ölveczky said. In fact, it has the opposite effect, he said. 'This is the most wasteful thing that's happened to biomedical research. You build up a research enterprise, and it takes an incredible amount of money to gain the trust of the world, frankly. Everybody's coming here,' he said. 'The fact that this is done in the name of sort of eliminating waste is just absurd,' he said. Using 'rainy day' funds given to him from his promotion a decade ago, he has been able to keep staff on — but these funds will dry up within the year, he said. He runs a lab with 10 to 12 people. His grants largely funded the salaries of postdoctoral students and technicians, reagents, animal care costs, instruments and publication costs. Being forced to let them go would be devastating, as they have institutional knowledge about the lab and how it works. Even if he were to later find funding, those people would be difficult to replace, and ultimately it would take time and more money to get them up to speed, he said in an affidavit. Read more: 'Far reaching consequences' — UMass Amherst sounds the alarm amid federal uncertainty In addition to potential layoffs, around 100 rats would also have to be killed because the lab won't have the funding to keep going. He said he refuses 'to believe that people in Congress don't see' the impact the funding cuts will have on research. 'I hope we can reverse course, but the worry I have is when will some of these things become irreversible?' he said. Even if the cuts at Harvard don't happen, the proposed cuts at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation through President Donald Trump's budget are going to be 'devastating,' Ölveczky said. 'There are two things going on — Harvard being targeted for political reasons and the whole scientific enterprise across the country being decimated. And that's going to have incredibly negative effects on the prosperity and the ability to push innovation and grow,' he said. It isn't like the United States is alone in its scientific progress; other countries like the U.K., Portugal, Sweden and Denmark are able to provide similarly enriching research environments, he said. It is challenging to encourage students and researchers to come to Harvard right now. 'Fundamentally, my biggest concern with this whole situation is that we're losing a generation of scientists,' Ölveczky said. There are postdoctoral students in his lab who are 'sacrificing a lot' to be in his lab, when they could work in the private research space and make more money. 'They're really devoted to pushing the frontiers of science,' he said. 'And those guys are being discouraged.' Read more: As Trump cuts funding, these Harvard scholars consider leaving US — and academia That is especially true for international students at Harvard, as the Trump administration has attempted to block Harvard international students from entering the country or enrolling at the institution. 'I have an incoming graduate student from Taiwan, who's phenomenal by all accounts, and I can't encourage him about this situation because the degree of uncertainty and anxiety associated with this whole situation is not something that I would necessarily want for myself if I had other options,' Ölveczky said. He is settled in the U.S. now as an American citizen. However, only a few short years ago, that wasn't the case. If he were 28 years old again and making the move again out of Hungary for his doctoral degree, he said there would be 'no chance' of him coming to the U.S. These US colleges are among the top 100 best global universities, US News says 'Far reaching consequences' — UMass Amherst sounds the alarm amid federal uncertainty MIT joins group of universities suing the DOD over funding cuts As federal funding cuts hit Harvard, a private investment firm and other donors step up 20 NIH grants restored to UMass system after judge rules against Trump admin Read the original article on MassLive.
