Latest news with #Unicef
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
Israeli fire kills at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza
Israeli fire killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, many of whom had been trying to get food, local officials said, as a United Nations (UN) agency warned of a looming man-made drought in the enclave due to collapsing water systems. At least 25 people awaiting aid trucks were killed by Israeli fire south of Netzarim in central Gaza Strip, the Hamas -run local health authority said. Asked about the incident, the Israel Defense Forces said its troops had fired warning shots at suspected militants who advanced in a crowd towards them. An Israeli aircraft then 'struck and eliminated the suspects', it said in a statement, adding that it was aware of others being hurt in the incident and was conducting a review. READ MORE Separately, Gazan medics said at least 19 people were killed in other Israeli military strikes across the enclave, including 12 people in a house in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, taking Friday's total death toll to at least 44. In a statement on Friday, Hamas, which says Israel is using hunger as a weapon against the population of Gaza, accused Israel of systematically targeting Palestinians seeking food aid across the enclave. Israel denies this and accuses Hamas of stealing food aid, which the group denies. Unicef , the UN's children's agency, warned in Geneva on Friday of drought conditions developing in Gaza. 'Children will begin to die of thirst ... Just 40 per cent of drinking water production facilities remain functional,' Unicef's James Elder told reporters. 'We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water.' Unicef also reported a 50 per cent increase from April to May in children aged between six months and five years being admitted for treatment of malnutrition in Gaza, and half a million people going hungry. [ 'We are being slaughtered': Gazans risk their lives on desperate journeys for food Opens in new window ] Mr Elder, who was recently in Gaza, said he had many testimonials of women and children injured while trying to receive food aid, including a young boy who was wounded by a tank shell and later died of his injuries. A lack of public clarity on when the sites – some of which are in combat zones – are open is causing mass casualty events, he added. The route near Netzarim has become dangerous since the start of a new US-backed distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), witnesses say, with desperate Gazans heading to a designated area late at night to try to get aid supplies due to be handed out after dawn. The route has also been used by aid trucks sent by the UN and aid groups, and people have also been heading there in the hope of grabbing bags off trucks. Unicef said GHF was 'making a desperate situation worse'. At least 70 people were killed on Thursday by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the GHF in the central Gaza Strip. In an email, GHF accused Gazan health officials of regularly releasing inaccurate information. It said Palestinians do not access the nearby GHF site via the Netzarim corridor. The statement did not address a question about whether GHF was aware of Thursday's incident. The GHF on Thursday said it had so far distributed nearly three million meals across three of its aid sites without incident. The Gaza war was triggered when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7th, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's ministry for health, while displacing almost the entire population of more than two million and causing a hunger crisis. – Reuters
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Collapse of Gaza's water systems may cause ‘devastating drought and hunger'
The collapse of water systems in Gaza is threatening the territory with devastating drought as well as hunger, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has warned, amid fresh reports of casualties among desperate Palestinians seeking aid. On Friday, at least 25 people awaiting aid trucks were killed by Israeli fire south of Netzarim in central Gaza, according to local health authorities. More than a hundred Palestinians have died in recent days while trying either to reach aid distribution points managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a secretive US- and Israel- backed organisation that recently started to hand out food in the territory, or to offload the limited number of UN and commercial vehicles carrying flour and some other basics. Such reports are difficult to confirm independently but appear corroborated in many details by interviews conducted with witnesses by the Guardian. There were also reports of other casualties on Friday in Israeli airstrikes, with at least 12 people killed in an airstrike on a house belonging to the Ayyash family in the central town of Deir Al-Balah. 'Forty-three martyrs have fallen as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip since dawn today, 26 of whom were waiting for humanitarian aid,' Mohammad al-Mughayyir, director of medical supply at the civil defence agency in Gaza, told AFP. Israeli military officials said on Friday that warplanes had attacked 300 'terror targets' in Gaza during the week, including individual militants, weapons caches and positions used to attack Israeli forces. One of the strikes killed a senior militant in the territory who had helped bury the bodies of two hostages seized during the attack led by Hamas into southern Israel in October 2023 which triggered the conflict, they said. Israeli military officials have denied troops have killed Palestinian civilians seeking aid, saying troops have fired at 'suspects' who are believed to pose a threat to them. James Elder, Unicef spokesperson, told reporters in Geneva that he had many testimonials of women and children injured while trying to receive food aid, including a young boy who was wounded by a tank shell and later died of his injuries. 'There have been instances where information [was] shared that a [distribution] site is open, but then it's communicated on social media that they're closed, but that information was shared when Gaza's internet was down and people had no access to it,' Elder said. The GHF release information about opening hours of sites primarily on Facebook, which many in Gaza cannot access. Food has become extremely scarce in Gaza since a tight blockade on all supplies was imposed by Israel throughout March and April, threatening many of the 2.3 million people who live there with a 'critical risk of famine'. Since the blockade was partially lifted last month, the UN has tried to bring in aid but has faced major obstacles, including rubble-choked roads, Israeli military restrictions, continuing airstrikes and growing anarchy. Many shipments have been stopped by ordinary Palestinians in Gaza and offloaded. There is also an acute shortage of fuel, which is needed for pumps on boreholes and Gaza's sole remaining desalination plant. None has been allowed into Gaza since the collapse of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in March. 'We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water for people in Gaza,' Elder added. 'Children will begin to die of thirst … Just 40% of drinking water production facilities remain functional.' The UN cut the operating hours of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in Gaza by a fifth in May to save fuel but reserves built up during the pause in the 20-month war are now almost exhausted, aid officials said. Most of Gaza's wastewater treatment plants, sewage systems, reservoirs and pipes have been destroyed. In March, Israel cut off power supplies to the main desalination plants – a vital source of water for Palestinians in Gaza. Israel hopes the GHF will replace the previous comprehensive system of aid distribution run by the UN, which Israeli officials claim allowed Hamas to steal and sell aid. UN agencies and major aid groups, which have delivered humanitarian aid across Gaza since the start of 20-month-long war, have rejected the new system, saying it is impractical, inadequate and unethical. They deny there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas. On Wednesday, the GHF said it had provided more than 30 million meals to the people of Gaza 'safely and without incident' since it began operating last month. Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage during the 7 October 2023 attack. They still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. The death toll in Gaza since the war broke out has reached more than 55,600, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry.
The Herald
6 hours ago
- Health
- The Herald
Gaza faces a man-made drought as water systems collapse, says Unicef
Gaza is facing a man-made drought as its water systems collapse, the UN's children agency said on Friday. 'Children will begin to die of thirst. Only 40% of drinking water production facilities remain functional,' Unicef spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva. 'We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water for people in Gaza.' Unicef also reported a 50% increase in children aged six months to five years admitted for treatment of malnutrition from April to May in Gaza, and half-a-million people going hungry. It said the US-backed aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was 'making a desperate situation worse'. On Friday at least 25 people awaiting aid trucks or seeking aid were killed by Israeli fire south of Netzarim in central Gaza Strip, according to local health authorities. On Thursday at least 51 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the GHF in the central Gaza Strip.
Saudi Gazette
8 hours ago
- Health
- Saudi Gazette
Israeli military kills 23 Palestinians near aid site in Gaza, witnesses and medics say
GAZA — Israeli forces have killed 23 Palestinians after opening fire on crowds gathered near an aid distribution site, witnesses and medics say. Tanks and drones fired at thousands of people near a distribution centre in central Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the witnesses and medics said. A spokesperson for al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat confirmed they received 23 bodies and more than 100 wounded. Images from the hospital showed bodies on the floor. The Israeli military is yet to comment. The GHF denied a shooting occurred near their sites. The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in similar incidents since late May. That is when the GHF took over most aid distribution in Gaza in an attempt by Israel to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid. The move followed a complete three-month Israeli blockade during which no food entered the territory, putting the entire population at critical risk of famine according to a UN-backed assessment. In almost all incidents, witnesses have said that Israeli troops opened fire, although there have also been reports of local armed gunmen shooting at people. The UN children's agency Unicef said the Israel- and US-backed food distribution system run by GHF was "making a desperate humanitarian situation worse". Unicef spokesperson James Elder said a lack of public clarity on when the sites, some of which are in combat zones, were open was leading to mass casualty events. "There have been instances where information (was) shared that a site is open, but then it's communicated on social media that they're closed, but that information was shared when Gaza's internet was down and people had no access to it," he told reporters in Geneva. He said many women and children had been wounded while trying to receive food aid, including a young boy who was wounded by a tank shell and later died. On Thursday, at least 12 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces while waiting for aid, according to rescuers and medics. The GHF denied there were any incidents near its site. The Israeli military told Reuters that "suspects" had attempted to approach forces in the area of Netzarim, and that soldiers had fired warning shots. On Tuesday witnesses said more than 50 people were killed when Israeli forces opened fire and shelled an area near a junction to the east of Khan Younis, where thousands of Palestinians had been gathering in the hope of getting flour from a World Food Programme (WFP) site, which also includes a community kitchen nearby. The Israeli military said "a gathering" had been identified "in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area" and the incident was under review. Unicef also warned that Gaza was facing a man-made drought as its water systems were collapsing. Just 40% of rinking water production facilities were still functioning, Mr Elder said. "Children will begin to die of thirst," he said, adding: "We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water for people in Gaza." In a separate Israeli attack on Friday, a medic with the Palestinian Red Crescent told the BBC that 11 Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a home in the al-Ma'sar area west of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Eyewitnesses said Israeli warplanes struck a two-storey house belonging to the Ayash family. Hamas-run civil defence officials say Israel has carried out a wave of deadly air strikes on Gaza in recent days, following a brief lull in air operations that coincided with the escalation between Israel and Iran. They reported on Thursday that at least 77 Palestinians had been killed in such strikes, which heavily targeted the Shati area in western Gaza City. Local sources speculated that the renewed strikes may be linked to the targeting of Hamas security elements who have recently re-emerged across parts of Gaza, attempting to reassert control amid a breakdown in law and order. These movements appear to have been timed with the temporary easing of Israeli aerial surveillance due to the simultaneous military focus on Iran. The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 55,706 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including more than 15,000 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. — BBC
TimesLIVE
9 hours ago
- Health
- TimesLIVE
Gaza faces a man-made drought as water systems collapse, says Unicef
Gaza is facing a man-made drought as its water systems collapse, the UN's children agency said on Friday. 'Children will begin to die of thirst. Only 40% of drinking water production facilities remain functional,' Unicef spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva. 'We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water for people in Gaza.' Unicef also reported a 50% increase in children aged six months to five years admitted for treatment of malnutrition from April to May in Gaza, and half-a-million people going hungry. It said the US-backed aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was 'making a desperate situation worse'. On Friday at least 25 people awaiting aid trucks or seeking aid were killed by Israeli fire south of Netzarim in central Gaza Strip, according to local health authorities. On Thursday at least 51 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the GHF in the central Gaza Strip.
