Latest news with #alAwdaHospital
Al Jazeera
15-06-2025
- Health
- Al Jazeera
Israel kills 23 Palestinians in Gaza, half of them while trying to get aid
Israeli forces have killed 23 Palestinians across Gaza, with at least 11 of them while they were trying to get food at aid sites operated by the United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), local authorities have said. Medics at al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza on Sunday told Al Jazeera that at least three people were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire as they tried to approach a GHF site near the so-called Netzarim Corridor. Two others were killed and more than 50 injured in a shooting at starving Palestinians near the GHF aid point in Rafah's al-Mawasi area. The dead and the wounded were taken to the nearby Red Cross Hospital, according to medics. Also, multiple Israeli air raids since dawn on Sunday killed at least 12 Palestinians in southern Gaza. Seven others were killed when an Israeli strike targeted a group of people in Beit Lahiya town in the north of the enclave, medics said. Alarming levels of hunger have driven people to the few food distribution points in Gaza, but Israeli forces have responded with sniper fire and bombings. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in near-daily mass shootings, with the GHF accused of weaponising aid. On Saturday, at least 79 Palestinians were killed, many of them while seeking aid. Medics at al-Awda and Al-Aqsa hospitals in central Gaza said at least 15 people were killed as they tried to approach the GHF aid distribution site near Netzarim Corridor. There has been no comment from the Israeli military regarding Sunday's attacks. The GHF began distributing aid in Gaza at the end of May after Israel partially lifted a three-month total blockade of food, medicines and other essential items. Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Palestinians are starting to see GHF distribution hubs as 'execution sites', considering the repeated attacks there. The GHF said its aid sites were closed on Saturday. But witnesses said thousands of people had gathered near the sites anyway, desperate for food as Israel's punishing blockade and military campaign have driven the territory to the brink of famine. Earlier this month, operations at the group's aid distribution hubs were also temporarily halted following several incidents of deadly violence, in which Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian aid seekers. The Gaza Ministry of Health said in a statement on Saturday that at least 274 people have so far been killed, and more than 2,000 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations in Gaza. The Israeli military has admitted to shooting at aid seekers, but claimed it opened fire only when 'suspects' deviated from a stipulated route to the GHF distribution site. Hamas, which rejects Israeli charges that it steals aid, has accused Israel of 'employing hunger as a weapon of war and turning aid distribution sites into traps of mass deaths of innocent civilians'. The United Nations has also labelled the GHF aid distribution as inadequate, dangerous, and a violation of humanitarian principles. 'GHF, I think it's fair to say, has been, from a principled humanitarian standpoint, a failure,' Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 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.' Israel's war on Gaza has killed nearly 55,300 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and has flattened much of the densely populated Strip, home to more than two million people, most of whom are displaced and facing acute hunger.
Al Arabiya
14-06-2025
- Health
- Al Arabiya
Israeli strikes on Gaza kill at least 16 as war rages on after opening new front with Iran
At least 16 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight and into Saturday, according to local health officials. The war with Hamas has raged on even as Israel has opened a new front with heavy strikes on Iran that sparked retaliatory drone and missile attacks. Another 11 Palestinians were killed overnight near food distribution points run by an Israeli- and US-supported humanitarian group in the latest of almost daily shootings near the sites since they opened last month. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have fired on the crowds, while the military says it has only fired warning shots near people it describes as suspects who approached its forces. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest shootings. The sites are located in military zones that are off limits to independent media. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation , a private contractor that operates the sites, said they were closed Saturday. But witnesses said thousands had gathered near the sites anyway, desperate for food as Israel's blockade and military campaign have driven the territory to the brink of famine. The al-Awda Hospital said it received eight bodies and at least 125 wounded people from a shooting near a GHF site in central Gaza. Mohamed Abu Hussein, a resident of the built-up Bureij refugee camp nearby, said Israeli forces opened fire toward the crowd about a kilometer (half-mile) from the food distribution point. He said he saw several people fall to the ground as thousands ran away. In the southern city of Khan Younis, Al-Nasser Hospital said it received 16 dead, including five women, from multiple Israeli strikes late Friday and early Saturday. It said another three men were killed near two GHF aid sites in the southernmost city of Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone. Israel and the United States say the new system is intended to replace a UN-run network that has distributed aid across Gaza through 20 months of war. They accuse Hamas of siphoning off the aid and reselling it to fund its militant activities. UN officials deny Hamas has diverted significant amounts of aid and say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs. They say the new system has militarized aid by allowing Israel to decide who has access and by forcing Palestinians to travel long distances or relocate again after waves of displacement. They say the UN has meanwhile struggled to deliver aid even after Israel eased its blockade last month because of military restrictions and rising lawlessness. Hamas, which is allied with Iran, sparked the war when its fighters led a rampage into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They still hold 53 hostages , less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in count. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90 percent of the population of some 2 million Palestinians, leaving them almost entirely reliant on international aid. The war has drawn in Iran and its other allies across the region, igniting a chain of events that led to Israel's major strikes on Iran's nuclear and military facilities on Friday.
The Independent
14-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Israeli strikes on Gaza kill at least 16 as war rages on after the opening of a new front with Iran
At least 16 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight and into Saturday, according to local health officials. The 20-month war with Hamas has raged on even as Israel has opened a new front with heavy strikes on Iran that sparked retaliatory drone and missile attacks. Another 11 Palestinians were killed overnight near food distribution points run by an Israeli- and U.S.-supported humanitarian group in the latest of almost daily shootings near the sites since they opened last month. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have fired on the crowds, while the military says it has only fired warning shots near people it describes as suspects who approached its forces. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest shootings. The sites are located in military zones that are off limits to independent media. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private contractor that operates the sites, said they were closed Saturday. But witnesses said thousands had gathered near the sites anyway, desperate for food as Israel's blockade and military campaign have driven the territory to the brink of famine. The al-Awda Hospital said it received eight bodies and at least 125 wounded people from a shooting near a GHF site in central Gaza. Mohamed Abu Hussein, a resident of the built-up Bureij refugee camp nearby, said Israeli forces opened fire toward the crowd about a kilometer (half-mile) from the food distribution point. He said he saw several people fall to the ground as thousands ran away. In the southern city of Khan Younis, the Nasser Hospital said it received 16 dead, including five women, from multiple Israeli strikes late Friday and early Saturday. It said another three men were killed near two GHF aid sites in the southernmost city of Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone. Israel and the United States say the new system is intended to replace a U.N.-run network that has distributed aid across Gaza through 20 months of war. They accuse Hamas of siphoning off the aid and reselling it to fund its militant activities. U.N. officials deny Hamas has diverted significant amounts of aid and say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs. They say the new system has militarized aid by allowing Israel to decide who has access and by forcing Palestinians to travel long distances or relocate again after waves of displacement. They say the U.N. has meanwhile struggled to deliver aid even after Israel eased its blockade last month because of military restrictions and rising lawlessness. Hamas, which is allied with Iran, sparked the war when its fighters led a rampage into southrn Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They still hold 53 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in count. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90% of the population of some 2 million Palestinians, leaving them almost entirely reliant on international aid. The war has drawn in Iran and its other allies across the region, igniting a chain of events that led to Israel's major strikes on Iran's nuclear and military facilities on Friday. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo. ___
Globe and Mail
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Palestinians say Israeli forces fired toward crowds near Gaza aid site, killing at least three
Palestinian health officials and witnesses say Israeli forces fired toward crowds making their way to a food distribution point run by an Israeli and U.S.-supported group in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing three people and wounding scores. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at people it referred to as suspects who it said had advanced toward its troops hundreds of metres from the aid site prior to its opening hours. Experts and humanitarian aid workers say Israel's blockade and 20-month military campaign have pushed Gaza to the brink of famine. Around 130 people have been killed in a number of shootings near aid sites run by the Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which are in military zones that are off-limits to independent media. The Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions at people who it says approached its forces in a suspicious manner. Israel commits 'extermination' in Gaza by killing civilians sheltering in schools, UN experts say The foundation says there has been no violence in or around the distribution points themselves. But it has warned people to stay on designated access routes and it paused delivery last week while it held talks with the military on improving safety. Two men and a child were killed and at least 130 were wounded on Tuesday, according to Nader Garghoun, a spokesperson for the al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. He said most were being treated for gunshot wounds. Israel deports Greta Thunberg after military seizure of Gaza-bound aid ship she was on Witnesses told the Associated Press that Israeli forces opened fire at around 2 a.m., several hundred metres from the aid site in central Gaza. Crowds of Palestinians seeking desperately needed food often head to the sites hours before dawn, hoping to beat the crowds. Mohammed Abu Hussein, a resident of the nearby built-up Bureij refugee camp, said Israeli drones and tanks opened fire, and that he saw five people wounded by gunshots. Abed Haniyah, another witness, said Israeli forces opened fire 'indiscriminately' as thousands of people were attempting to reach the food site. 'What happens every day is humiliation,' he said. 'Every day, people are killed just trying to get food for their children.' Israel and the United States say they set up the new food distribution system to prevent Hamas from stealing humanitarian aid and using it to finance militant activities. The United Nations, which runs a longstanding system capable of delivering aid to all parts of Gaza, says there is no evidence of any systematic diversion. U.N. agencies and major aid groups have refused to co-operate with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to decide who receives aid and by forcing Palestinians to relocate to just three currently operational sites. The other two distribution sites are in the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah, which Israel has transformed into a military zone. Israeli forces maintain an outer perimeter around all three hubs, and Palestinians must pass close to them to reach the distribution points. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of creating a 'sterile zone' in Rafah free of Hamas and of moving the territory's entire population there. He has also said Israel will facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of Gaza's two million Palestinians to other countries – plans rejected by much of the international community, including the Palestinians, who view it as forcible expulsion.
