tag

The Qatar Press Center (QPC) condemns the killing of 20 Palestinians, including five journalists and several ambulance and civil defence crews while evacuating the wounded, in an Israeli air strike on the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.Quoting a medical source, WAFA reported that the journalists killed were: Mohammed Salama, a photojournalist for Al Jazeera; Hussam al-Masri, a photojournalist for Reuters; journalist Mariam Dagga, who works for several media outlets, including Independent Arabia and AP; and journalist Moaz Abu Taha for the American NBC network. Fellow journalist Ahmed Abu Aziz succumbed to his wounds following the Israeli massacre.This brings the number of journalists killed since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza to 245. The QPC affirms that the new Israeli massacre of journalists while performing their professional duties is part of a systematic policy pursued by the occupation army since the beginning of its war of extermination against the people of Gaza on October 7, 2023, targeting journalists’ locations, homes, and tents to prevent them from conveying the truth to the world and to silence their voices forever. The QPC reiterates its call on the international community, UN, human rights, and media organisations, to condemn the targeting of journalists in Gaza and to take urgent action to hold the Israeli occupation accountable before international courts for war crimes against journalists and media professionals. Impunity has encouraged the Israeli occupation forces to continue their series of assassinations, arrests, and intimidation of journalists, in full view of the world.Cameras documented the martyrdom of the journalists live on air. A circulating video shows a group of journalists and paramedics rushing to Nasser Hospital after the fourth floor was bombed, to begin rescuing the victims and wounded.However, they were surprised by a second Israeli airstrike targeting them, resulting in an increase in the number of casualties among photographers and medical personnel.The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip condemned the recent Israeli massacre, noting that the number of journalist martyrs in the Strip had risen to 245 following the latest attack.The office called on the International Federation of Journalists to condemn the crimes against journalists and held Israel responsible for the brutal crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources have reported that 70 Palestinians were killed in ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since the early hours of Tuesday.According to the sources, 30 Palestinians were killed in the northern part of the Strip, 20 in the central area, and 20 in the south.Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli occupation forces have been waging an unprecedented aggression on the Gaza Strip, involving killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, while disregarding all international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt the assault.So far, the Israeli aggression has killed 62,819, injured 158,629, the majority of whom are children and women. Over 9,000 are missing hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that has killed 303 people, including 117 children to date is spreading.

Israel has not given any official response to the Hamas approved plan for settlement even though this plan agrees with almost 98% of Israeli proposals and demands in this regard, pointed out HE Dr Majed bin Mohamed al-Ansari, Adviser to the Prime Minister and Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Tuesday.Addressing the ministry’s weekly press briefing, he explained that both mediators - Egypt and Qatar - have been working tirelessly to end the escalating situation in Gaza and find a way out for the sufferings of the Palestinian people there.“However, it seems that the Israeli side is not taking the issue of peace settlement seriously and the situation on the ground has continued to deteriorate with the targeting of journalists, media persons, medics, aid workers and aid seekers, in addition to more killing of civilians and worsening the suffering of the Palestinian people on the ground,” he observed.Dr al-Ansari noted that both Qatar and Egypt are mainly concerned about ending this worsening situation and determined to continue the peaceful negotiations alongside all the other mediators and involved parties, especially the American side, regardless where and when the negotiations take place.Regarding the negative and provocative statements in the Israeli media that tend to worsen and escalate the situation, the Qatari official stressed that as mediators, Qatar is only concerned about the official Israeli response and such statements are of no serious concern.Further, no official response to Hamas proposal has been issued so far by the Israeli government, even though the plan has been there for more than 10 days with them. Dr al-Ansari further stressed the need for more pressure on the Israeli government by the international community to end the situation that has been taking a very dangerous turn on the humanitarian level.

The World Food Programme warned Tuesday that the aid Israel is allowing to enter Gaza remains a "drop in the ocean", days after famine was formally declared in the war-torn Palestinian territory.The United Nations declared a famine in Gaza on Friday, blaming the "systematic obstruction" of aid by Israel during its nearly two-year war with the Hamas.Carl Skau, WFP's chief operating officer, said that over the past two weeks, there has been a "slight uptick" in aid entering, averaging around 100 trucks per day."That's still a drop in the ocean when we're talking about assisting some 2.1 million people," Skau told AFP during a visit to New Delhi."We need a completely different level of assistance to be able to turn this trajectory of famine around."The Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) said famine was affecting 500,000 people in Gaza.It defines famine as when 20 percent of households face extreme food shortages, more than 30 percent of children under five are acutely malnourished, and there is an excess mortality threshold of at least two in 10,000 people a day.Skau painted a grim picture of Gaza."The levels of desperation are so high that people keep grabbing the food off our trucks," the former Swedish diplomat said."And when we're not able to do proper orderly distributions, we're not sure that we're reaching the most vulnerable -- the women and the children furthest out in the camps," he said."And they're the ones we really need to reach now, if we want to avoid a full-scale catastrophe."But Skau also warned that Gaza was only one of many global crises, with multiple famine zones emerging simultaneously as donor funding collapses.Some 320 million people globally are now acutely food insecure - nearly triple the figure from five years ago. At the same time, WFP funding has dropped by 40 percent compared with last year."Right now, we're seeing a number of crises that, at any other time in history, would have gotten the headlines and been the top issue discussed," he said.That includes Sudan, where 25 million people are "acutely food insecure", including 10 million in what Skau called "the starvation phase"."It's the largest hunger and humanitarian crisis that we probably have seen in decades -- since the end of the 1980s with the Ethiopia famine," he said."We have 10 spots in Sudan where famine has been confirmed. It's a disaster of unimaginable magnitude."He detailed how a UN aid convoy in June tried to break the siege by paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Sudan's city of El-Fasher in Darfur, only for the truck convoy to be hit by a deadly drone attack.Neighbouring South Sudan is also struggling, he said, suggesting "there might well be a third confirmation of a famine"."That will be unprecedented", he said, citing "extremely expensive" operations in the young nation's Upper Nile state, where, with few roads, aid must be delivered by helicopters or airdrops."This is maybe the number one crisis where you have on one hand staggering needs and, frankly, no resources available", he said.At the same time, traditional donors have cut aid.US President Donald Trump slashed foreign aid after taking office, dealing a heavy blow to humanitarian operations worldwide."We are in a funding crunch, and the challenge here is that the needs keep going up", Skau said.While conflict is the "main driver" of rising hunger levels, other causes include "extreme weather events due to climate change" and the economic shock of trade wars."Our worry is that we are now cutting from the hungry to give to the starving," he said.Skau said the organisation was actively seeking new donors."We're engaging countries like India, Indonesia, Brazil, and others, beyond the more traditional donors, to see how they can also assist".

Catholic and Greek Orthodox priests and nuns will remain in Gaza City despite Israel's plan for a military takeover, the religious communities said in a joint statement on Tuesday."At the time of this statement, evacuation orders were already in place for several neighbourhoods in Gaza City. Reports of heavy bombardment continue to be received," the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said."We do not know exactly what will happen on the ground, not only for our community, but for the entire population", they said.Hundreds of displaced people have sheltered since the outbreak of the war in the Greek Orthodox compound of Saint Porphyrius and the Catholic Holy Family compound, including children and those with special needs.Stray Israeli fire hit the Holy Family church in July, killing three and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest."Among those who have sought shelter within the walls of the compounds, many are weakened and malnourished due to the hardships of the last months," the statement said."Leaving Gaza City and trying to flee to the south would be nothing less than a death sentence."For this reason, the clergy and nuns have decided to remain and continue to care for all those who will be in the compounds".There are some 645 Catholic and Orthodox Christians left in the Gaza Strip, including five priests and five nuns, the Latin Patriarchate told AFP on Tuesday.Israel's cabinet approved in early August a plan for the military to take over Gaza City, despite mounting pressure both at home and abroad to wrap up a war which has created a humanitarian crisis and devastated much of the territory.The United Nations declared a famine in Gaza on Friday.Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 62,744 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip, since the start of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, has risen to 62,819, mostly women and children, Palestinian medical sources reported on Tuesday.The sources added that the injury toll has surged to 158,629 since the start of the offensive, while several victims are still trapped under the rubble, with ambulance and civil defense crews unable to reach them.Over the past 24 hours, Gaza's hospitals received 75 martyrs and 370 injured, with the toll of casualties since March 18, following Israel's breach of the ceasefire deal, reaching 10,975 fatalities and 46,588 injuries, the sources continued.The sources further indicated that the toll of those who died while trying to make a living and being sent to hospitals in the past 24 hours reached 17, with 122 reported injured, bringing the total number of martyrs who reached the hospitals to 2,140 and 15,737 injured.Meanwhile, hospitals in the Gaza Strip recorded 3 new mortalities over the past 24 hours due to starvation and malnutrition, bringing the total number of mortalities to 303, including 117 children.

The State of Qatar condemned the Israeli occupation forces' bombing of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, which resulted in the deaths of innocent, defenseless civilians, and considered it a new episode in the ongoing series of heinous crimes committed by the occupation forces against the brotherly Palestinian people and a flagrant violation of international law.In a statement on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that the occupation forces' targeting of journalists and relief and medical workers requires urgent and decisive international action to provide the necessary protection for civilians and ensure that the perpetrators of these atrocities do not escape punishment.The Ministry also reiterated the urgent need for global solidarity to end the brutal genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, address the catastrophic humanitarian conditions there, and move forward towards achieving a just and sustainable peace in the region, ensuring the establishment of an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Gaza's civil defence agency said five journalists were among at least 20 people killed Monday when Israeli strikes hit a hospital in the south, with Reuters, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera mourning their slain contributors.The ongoing war in Gaza has been one of the deadliest for journalists, with around 200 media workers killed over the course of the nearly two-year Israeli assault, according to media watchdogs.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said "the toll so far is 20 martyrs, including five journalists and one member of the civil defence", after strikes hit Khan Yunis's Nasser Hospital — a large medical complex that has been targeted several times by Israel since the start of the war.In a statement, the Israeli military said its troops Monday "carried out a strike in the area of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis"."The Chief of the General Staff instructed to conduct an initial inquiry as soon as possible," it said, adding it "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such".The civil defence's Bassal said an Israeli explosive drone targeted a building at the hospital, followed by an air strike as the wounded were being evacuated.Reuters reported that video journalist Hussam al-Masri — a contractor who was working for the agency — was operating a live feed at the hospital, "which suddenly shut down at the moment of the initial strike".A Reuters spokesperson said the agency was "devastated" to learn of Masri's death "and injuries to another of our contractors, Hatem Khaled, in Israeli strikes on the Nasser hospital in Gaza today"."We are urgently seeking more information and have asked authorities in Gaza and Israel to help us get urgent medical assistance for Hatem," the statement added.A spokesperson for Qatar-based TV network Al Jazeera said that one of its photojournalists and cameramen, Mohammad Salama, was also killed in the attack."Al Jazeera Media Network condemns, in the strongest possible terms, this horrific crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces, who have directly targeted and assassinated journalists as part of a systematic campaign to silence the truth," the broadcaster said in a statement.The Associated Press said in a statement that it was "shocked and saddened" to learn of the death of Mariam Dagga, 33, a visual journalist who had freelanced for the agency since the start of the war.The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate named two other victims as Moaz Abu Taha and Ahmad Abu Aziz.Later Monday, a sixth journalist, Hassan Douhan, was killed by Israeli fire in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and Nasser Hospital.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.AFP footage from the immediate aftermath of the attack showed smoke filling the air and debris from the blast on the floor outside the hospital.Palestinians rushed to help the victims, carrying bloodied corpses and severed body parts into the medical complex. One body could be seen dangling from the top floor of the targeted building as a man screamed below.A woman wearing medical scrubs and a white coat was among the injured, carried into the hospital on a stretcher with a heavily bandaged leg and blood all over her clothes.Nasser Hospital is one of the last remaining health facilities in the Gaza Strip that is at least partially functioning.Later in the day, a crowd carried the bodies of some of the slain journalists at a funeral in Khan Yunis, with the dead wrapped in white burial shrouds and their press flak jackets resting on top."We will not stop walking this path, and the coverage will continue, God willing," said Masri's brother Mahmoud.The strike was lambasted by a range of voices, including the UN, media outlets, rights groups and the Israel-based Foreign Press Association.Earlier this month, four Al Jazeera staff and two freelancers were killed in an Israeli air strike outside Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, prompting widespread condemnation.Anas al-Sharif — a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent killed in the strike was killed in the strike.

Israeli planes and tanks pounded the eastern and northern outskirts of Gaza City overnight Saturday to Sunday, destroying buildings and homes, residents said, as Israeli leaders vowed to press on with a planned offensive on the city.Witnesses reported the sound of explosions non-stop overnight in the areas of Zeitoun and Shejaia, while tanks shelled houses and roads in the nearby Sabra neighbourhood and several buildings were blown up in the northern town of Jabalia.Fire lit the skies from the direction of the explosions, causing panic, prompting some families to stream out of the city. Others said they would prefer to die and not leave.The Israeli military said Sunday that its forces have returned to combat in the Jabalia area in recent days, to dismantle tunnels and strengthen control of the area.It added that the operation there "enables the expansion of combat into additional areas and prevents Hamas from returning to operate in these areas."Israel approved a plan this month to seize control of Gaza City, describing it as the last bastion of Hamas. It is not expected to begin for a few weeks, leaving room for mediators Egypt and Qatar to try and resume ceasefire talks.Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz Sunday vowed to press on with the offensive on the city where famine has been declared, which has raised alarm abroad and objections at home. Katz has said that Gaza City will be razed unless Hamas agrees to end the war on Israel's terms and release all hostages.Hamas said in a statement Sunday that Israel's plan to take over Gaza City showed it wasn't serious about a ceasefire.It said a ceasefire agreement was "the only way to return the hostages", holding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for their lives.The proposal on the table calls for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages held in Gaza and of 18 bodies. In turn, Israel would release about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.Once a temporary ceasefire begins, the proposal is for Hamas and Israel to begin negotiations on a permanent ceasefire that would include the return of the remaining hostages.On Thursday, Netanyahu said that Israel would immediately resume negotiations for the release of all 50 hostages — of whom Israel believes around 20 are still living — and an end to the nearly two-year-old war but on terms acceptable to Israel.Around half of the enclave's two million people currently live in Gaza City. A few thousand have already left, carrying their belongings on vehicles and rickshaws."I stopped counting the times I had to take my wife and three daughters and leave my home in Gaza City," said Mohammad, 40, via a chat app. "No place is safe, but I can't take the risk. If they suddenly begin the invasion, they will use heavy fire."Others said they will not leave, no matter what."We are not leaving, let them bomb us at home," said Aya, 31, who has a family of eight, adding that they couldn't afford to buy a tent or pay for the transportation, even if they did try to leave. "We are hungry, afraid and don't have money."A global hunger monitor said on Friday that Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine that will likely spread. Israel has rejected the assessment and says it ignores steps it has taken since late July to increase aid.On Sunday, the Gaza health ministry said eight more people died of malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, raising deaths from such causes to 289 people, including 115 children, since the war started.

Starvation is the slow, silent unmaking of the body. Deprived of basic sustenance, the body first burns through sugar stores in the liver. Then it melts muscle and fat, breaking down tissue to keep the brain and other vital organs alive.As these reserves are depleted, the heart loses its strength, the immune system surrenders, and the mind begins to fade. The skin tightens over the bones, and breathing grows faint. Organs begin to fail in succession, vision fails, and the body, now empty, slips away. It is a prolonged, agonising way to die.We have all seen the images of emaciated Palestinian babies and children withering away from starvation in their mothers’ arms. Yet now that Israel is intensifying its war – embarking on a new campaign to seize control of Gaza City – thousands more Palestinian civilians may be killed, either by bombs or by starvation.“This is no longer a looming hunger crisis,” Ramesh Rajasingham, a senior UN humanitarian official, told the UN Security Council on Aug 10. “This is starvation, pure and simple.” Alex de Waal, an expert on famine, estimates that thousands of Gazan children are now too weak to eat, even if they had access to food. “They have got to that stage of severe acute malnutrition where their bodies just can’t digest food.”There is a growing consensus that Israel is committing the most serious of crimes in Gaza, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare. Palestinian and international human-rights groups raised the alarm about this risk within months of the start of the war, and it has since been echoed by states on every continent, as well as by many in Israel. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, for example, has decried what he describes as war crimes in Gaza, and leading Israeli human-rights groups say Israel’s actions in the territory amount to genocide.On Oct 9, 2023, then-Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced: “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we will act accordingly.” The population of Gaza was dehumanised, and no distinction was made between civilians and combatants – a violation of a cardinal rule of international humanitarian law. The siege shut off all supplies into Gaza for 70 days, imposing collective punishment.This first siege was eased only slightly when Israel allowed supplies to trickle into Gaza in early 2024. By that April, Samantha Power, then the head of USAID, was already warning of famine in parts of Gaza. The following month, Cindy McCain, the executive director of the World Food Programme, announced “a full-blown famine” in northern Gaza.International law prohibits the use of starvation as a weapon of war. As the occupying power in Gaza, Israel must ensure that the civilian population receives adequate food, water, medical supplies, and other essentials. If those supplies cannot be located within Gaza itself, they must be sourced externally – including from Israel.Over the past 21 months, several governments and aid agencies have pleaded with Israel to let them deliver aid. Granting such permission is also a legal obligation: Israel has a duty to facilitate others’ relief schemes “by all means at its disposal.” But Israel has continuously thwarted these efforts. At this very moment, it is blocking humanitarian organisations from delivering aid.In January 2024, the International Court of Justice, through legally binding decisions ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.” Two months later, it reaffirmed that order and required that the measures be taken “in full co-operation with the UN.” The UN-led humanitarian system was the only one capable of preventing widespread famine in Gaza. During the cease-fire between January and March of this year, the UN and other humanitarian organisations were operating as many as 400 relief distribution sites. But after Israel broke the cease-fire in March, these were shut down, and another siege was unlawfully imposed.Israel justified the new siege by saying that it was cutting off aid to exert greater pressure on Hamas – thus acknowledging its use of starvation as a weapon. When aid resumed in May, the UN was replaced by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private food-distribution arrangement organised by Israel. But since then, nearly 1,400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while attempting to obtain food at the GHF’s four distribution sites.Worse, the GHF scheme was never going to work. According to a report from the Famine Review Committee last month, “Our analysis of the food packages supplied by the GHF shows that their distribution plan would lead to mass starvation, even if it was able to function without the appalling levels of violence.”Under international law, the war crime of starvation begins at the point of deprivation. When it becomes a more expansive policy undertaken with the intent “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” it becomes genocide. Multiple senior Israeli officials have openly expressed such intent – including Gallant in October 2023, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who in August 2024 remarked that “it might be justified and moral” to “cause 2mn civilians to die of hunger,” and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Minister for National Security, who tweeted that “food and aid depots should be bombed.”Palestinians are being intentionally starved to death. Although signs of the coming horrors were clear within months of the war’s onset, many governments averted their eyes. They rationalised the restrictions on aid by arguing that it was going to Hamas – a claim that Israel now says it has no evidence for – and transferred more tonnage in weapons to Israel than they delivered in aid to Gaza. Now, they are failing in their duty to prevent and stop a genocide.History will forever record this moment of global shame. It will archive the images of skeletal children alongside those from past episodes where the world did nothing. One can only hope that the world will act now to salvage at least a measure of our humanity, before even more children die. – Project SyndicateBinaifer Nowrojee is President of the Open Society Foundations.