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Qatar Tribune
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Gaza massacres, West Bank raids continue as attention shifts to Iran
On Thursday, Israeli troops killed at least 16 Palestinians trying desperately to get food in Gaza. On Wednesday, it was at least 29 Palestinians. The day before, at least 70 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces as they gathered at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution site in Khan Younis. They were gunned down by drones, machine gun fire and tanks, according to survivors. On Monday, at least 38 were killed in a similar manner while trying to get food, mostly in Rafah. And on Sunday, at least 17 were killed in southern and central Gaza. The GHF is an Israeli and United States-backed body staffed by private security contractors. Israel set it up in May to replace United Nations-led relief operations, yet dozens of Palestinians have been gunned down on at least eight occasions at GHF sites. 'This happens to some extent every day. It's becoming a routine,' said Yasser al-Banna, a journalist in Gaza. 'Now that Israel has started a war with Iran, everyone here in Gaza is scared that the world is going to forget about them,' he told Al Jazeera. Since Israel began attacking Iran on June 13, global attention on the plight of Palestinians in the occupied territory has faded from the headlines. But Israel has continued to attack Palestinians in Gaza, while conducting deadly raids in the West Bank. After the latest attack on Palestinians desperate for food, analysts and human rights monitors told Al Jazeera that they believe Israel is likely to commit more 'massacres', while prioritising the welfare of Israelis as the war with Iran drags on. 'Israel is using the diverted attention away from Gaza to continue to carry out atrocious crimes against starving civilians,' said Omar Rahman, an expert on Israel and Palestine for the Middle East Council on Global Affairs think tank. 'We have also seen a lot of military and settler activity in the West Bank in recent days,' he told Al Jazeera. Israel's violence against helpless Palestinians at the GHF site on Tuesday resulted in the highest single death toll at any GHF site since the controversial organisation began operations last month. It has been lambasted for what opponents have called the militarisation of humanitarian aid relief. Yet Israel's chokehold siege on the enclave has pushed Palestinians to make an impossible choice: Whither away from hunger or risk their lives to obtain a food parcel. 'Israel's whole GHF scheme is just a way to increase the humiliation of Palestinians,' said Ibrahim Nabeel, a Palestinian medic who has treated victims of the GHF attacks. Along with sustaining its genocidal war in Gaza, Israel has also tightened its occupation over the West Bank since it began attacking Iran. Several Palestinians told Al Jazeera that it is 'impossible to move' from one village or town to another. The entrances to Palestinian villages and cities have been blocked off by Israeli forces, and the number of military checkpoints has increased. (Agencies)
Straits Times
a day ago
- Health
- Straits Times
‘You either come back carrying food, or in a shroud': Gazans make life-risking journeys to seek food
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites since late May. PHOTO: REUTERS 'You either come back carrying food, or in a shroud': Gazans make life-risking journeys to seek food GAZA/CAIRO - Like thousands of other Palestinians in Gaza, Hind Al-Nawajha takes a dangerous, miles-long journey every day to try to get some food for her family, hoping she makes it back alive. Accompanied by her sister, Mazouza, the mother-of-four has to duck down and hide behind a pile of rubble on the side of the road as gunshots echo nearby. 'You either come back carrying (food) for your children and they will be happy, or you come back in a shroud, or you go back upset (without food) and your children will cry,' said Ms Al-Nawajha, 38, a resident of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza. 'This is life, we are being slaughtered, we can't do it anymore.' On June 17 and 18, dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they tried to get food from aid trucks brought into the enclave by the United Nations and international relief agencies, Gaza medics said. On June 19, medics said at least 51 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the central Gaza Strip, the latest in near-daily reports of killings of people seeking food. The Israeli military said there were several attempts by 'suspects' to approach forces in the area of Netzarim in the central Gaza Strip, in a manner that endangered them. It said forces fired warning shots to prevent suspects from approaching them, and it was currently unaware of injuries in the incident. In an e-mail, GHF criticised Gazan health officials, accusing them of regularly releasing inaccurate information. GHF said that Palestinians do not access the nearby GHF site via the Netzarim corridor. It did not address questions about whether GHF was aware that such an incident had occurred. Thirty-nine people were killed, meanwhile, in separate Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip on June 19, medics said. One of those strikes killed at least 19 people, including women and children, in a tent in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, they added. Another strike killed at least 14 people and damaged several houses in Jabalia, in the north of the enclave, medics said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on those attacks. In recent days, the Israeli military said its forces had opened fire and fired warning shots to disperse people who approached areas where troops were operating, posing a threat. It said it was reviewing reports of casualties among civilians. Sleeping by the road Israel has been channelling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through GHF, a new US- and Israeli-backed group, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces. The Gaza health ministry said hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach GHF sites since late May. The United Nations rejects the GHF delivery system as inadequate, dangerous and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. Israel says it is needed to prevent Hamas fighters from diverting aid, which Hamas denies. On June 18, the GHF said in a statement it had distributed 3 million meals across three of its aid sites without an incident. The Gaza war was triggered when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and causing a hunger crisis. The Norwegian Refugee Council warned on June 19 that more than 1 million people were without adequate shelter, saying equipment such as tents and tarpaulins had been blocked by Israel from entering since March 1. Ms Al-Nawajha returned empty-handed on June 18 from her journey to find food, flopping down exhausted on the dusty ground outside the tent in Gaza City, where she has been displaced and sheltering with her family. She and her sister have been camping by the road for the past 20 days. They say they try to force their way into the distribution site where trucks carrying aid arrive, but are often outmuscled by men, who sometimes fight over sacks of flour coming off UN trucks. '(When) there is no food, as you can see, children start crying and getting angry,' she said. 'When we are for three, four kilometres or more on our legs... Oh my... our feet are bruised and our shoes are torn off.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Qatar Tribune
6 days ago
- Health
- Qatar Tribune
Israeli attacks kill at least 58 people in Gaza
Agencies Gaza Israeli fire and air strikes have killed at least 58 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, many 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. 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. 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).
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
United Nations slams US- and Israel-backed Gaza aid group as a ‘failure'
The United Nations says the Israeli- and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is a 'failure' from a humanitarian perspective. Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said aid operations have stalled because the GHF is not delivering supplies safely to those in need. 'GHF, I think it's fair to say, has been, from a principled humanitarian standpoint, a failure,' Laerke told reporters in Geneva on Friday. 'They are not doing what a humanitarian operation should do, which is providing aid to people where they are, in a safe and secure manner.' The UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, citing concerns that it prioritises Israeli military objectives over humanitarian needs. The newly formed private organisation began operations on May 26 after Israel had completely cut off supplies into Gaza for more than two months, sparking warnings of mass famine. It says it has distributed more than 18 million meals since then. On Friday, more than 30 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks, medical sources told Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera's Tariq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Israeli forces were targeting parts of Khan Younis in southern Gaza with artillery fire and ground attacks. 'The Israeli military is deepening its ground operations,' Azzoum said, saying there were clashes in the eastern part of the city. The besieged territory remained under a communications blackout for a second day on Friday. Hamas has denounced what it described as an Israeli decision to cut communication lines in Gaza, calling it 'a new aggressive step' in the country's 'war of extermination'. Israel continues to force civilians into what it calls the 'safe zone' of al-Mawasi, a barren coastal strip with no infrastructure, which it has repeatedly bombed. A drone strike on a tent there killed at least two people on Friday. The attack left 'everyone on the ground quite confused about where they can go in order to find safety', Azzoum said. In the occupied West Bank, Israel sealed all crossings and checkpoints between Palestinian towns and cities early on Friday, shortly after it launched a wave of air strikes on targets in Iran. Sources told Al Jazeera the closures were imposed without any indication of when they might be lifted. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its ambulances were being denied access to patients, including those in urgent need of medical care. In occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces closed Al-Aqsa Mosque, preventing Palestinians from attending Friday prayers. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa held an emergency cabinet meeting in response and activated crisis committees across the West Bank.
NZ Herald
12-06-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says five members killed by Hamas
The United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has accused militant group Hamas of attacking a bus carrying its staffers to an aid distribution centre, saying at least five people were killed and multiple others injured. The group said in a statement that around 10 pm local time 'a bus carrying more
