WAR CRIMES: TARGETED KILLINGS
Dozens killed in Gaza as Israel strikes fourth school in four days
Dozens of Palestinians were killed or wounded in an Israeli strike on a school used as a displacement shelters near the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis, hospital sources said. It was the fourth Israeli strike on a school in four days, which Israeli authorities try to justify by claiming that Hamas militants were "hiding" in the schools.
Issued on: 09/07/2024 -
Dozens killed in Gaza as Israel strikes fourth school in four days
Dozens of Palestinians were killed or wounded in an Israeli strike on a school used as a displacement shelters near the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis, hospital sources said. It was the fourth Israeli strike on a school in four days, which Israeli authorities try to justify by claiming that Hamas militants were "hiding" in the schools.
Issued on: 09/07/2024 -
A paramedic carries a child wounded during Israeli bombardment to the emergency ward at Nassr hospital in Khan Yunis, on the southern Gaza Strip on July 9, 2024.
© Bashar Taleb, AFP
Palestinian sources said at least 29 people were killed Tuesday in a strike on a school being used to shelter displaced people in Gaza, the fourth such incident in four days, with Hamas blaming Israel for the deaths.
Israel's military told AFP it was checking the latest reports. It has acknowledged carrying out three other strikes since Saturday on Gaza schools being used as shelters.
The strike hit the entrance to Al-Awda school in Abasan, said a source at Nasser hospital in the nearby southern city of Khan Yunis where victims were taken, adding that 29 were killed and dozens wounded.
The Hamas-run government media office accused Israel of carrying out a "terrible massacre" and also gave the death toll as 29, saying the "majority" were women and children.
"We were sitting at the entrance of the school... suddenly and without warning, rockets were fired," a witness, Mohammed Sukkar, told AFP about Tuesday's strike.
Officials in the Hamas-run territory said at least 20 people were killed in the earlier attacks on the schools.
Israel said all three of those strikes had targeted militants hiding in the schools.
On Saturday, an Israeli strike hit the UN-run Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat, central Gaza, killing 16 people, according to the health ministry.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 2,000 people were sheltering there at the time.
The following day a strike on the Holy Family school in Gaza City killed four, according to Gaza's civil defence agency.
The Latin Patriarchate, owners of the school, said hundreds of people had packed the grounds at the time.
Another UNRWA-run school in Nuseirat was hit on Monday. A local hospital said several people were taken in for treatment.
Israel said it had targeted "several terrorists" using the school for cover.
Hamas has denied Israeli claims that it uses schools, hospitals and other civilian facilities for military aims.
According to UNRWA, more than 500 people have been killed in schools and other shelters it runs in Gaza since the war started on October 7 with the Hamas attack on Israel.
(AFP)
Israel's military told AFP it was checking the latest reports. It has acknowledged carrying out three other strikes since Saturday on Gaza schools being used as shelters.
The strike hit the entrance to Al-Awda school in Abasan, said a source at Nasser hospital in the nearby southern city of Khan Yunis where victims were taken, adding that 29 were killed and dozens wounded.
The Hamas-run government media office accused Israel of carrying out a "terrible massacre" and also gave the death toll as 29, saying the "majority" were women and children.
"We were sitting at the entrance of the school... suddenly and without warning, rockets were fired," a witness, Mohammed Sukkar, told AFP about Tuesday's strike.
Officials in the Hamas-run territory said at least 20 people were killed in the earlier attacks on the schools.
Israel said all three of those strikes had targeted militants hiding in the schools.
On Saturday, an Israeli strike hit the UN-run Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat, central Gaza, killing 16 people, according to the health ministry.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 2,000 people were sheltering there at the time.
The following day a strike on the Holy Family school in Gaza City killed four, according to Gaza's civil defence agency.
The Latin Patriarchate, owners of the school, said hundreds of people had packed the grounds at the time.
Another UNRWA-run school in Nuseirat was hit on Monday. A local hospital said several people were taken in for treatment.
Israel said it had targeted "several terrorists" using the school for cover.
Hamas has denied Israeli claims that it uses schools, hospitals and other civilian facilities for military aims.
According to UNRWA, more than 500 people have been killed in schools and other shelters it runs in Gaza since the war started on October 7 with the Hamas attack on Israel.
(AFP)
WAR CRIMES: DELIBERATE STARVATION
Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Yussef Jaber dreams of drinking a mint tea with a lot of sugar, but instead he is confronting hunger more than nine months into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Issued on: 09/07/2024
Food and basic goods are in short supply in besieged Gaza
© Bashar TALEB / AFP
There is barely any food left in the north of the besieged Palestinian territory, said the 24-year-old in Jabalia. And the price of what little reaches residents there is skyrocketing.
"There is nothing for us except some flour and tinned goods that make us sick," he said.
"We have no vegetables to cook or meat. We need everything."
Independent UN rights experts on Tuesday said Israel was conducting a "targeted starvation campaign" against Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel accused the expert panel of "spreading misinformation".
While the United Nations has not officially declared famine in Gaza, the experts noted 34 Palestinians have died from malnutrition since Hamas's October 7 attack that set off the war.
Israel imposed a siege on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, limiting the entry of aid and commercial goods.
Jaber and aid groups working in Gaza say the rare food and basic supplies available in the markets now cost a small fortune.
Sugar sells for about 100 Israeli shekels ($27) per kilo, said Jaber, making it -- and his beloved tea -- an out-of-reach luxury.
There is barely any food left in the north of the besieged Palestinian territory, said the 24-year-old in Jabalia. And the price of what little reaches residents there is skyrocketing.
"There is nothing for us except some flour and tinned goods that make us sick," he said.
"We have no vegetables to cook or meat. We need everything."
Independent UN rights experts on Tuesday said Israel was conducting a "targeted starvation campaign" against Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel accused the expert panel of "spreading misinformation".
While the United Nations has not officially declared famine in Gaza, the experts noted 34 Palestinians have died from malnutrition since Hamas's October 7 attack that set off the war.
Israel imposed a siege on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, limiting the entry of aid and commercial goods.
Jaber and aid groups working in Gaza say the rare food and basic supplies available in the markets now cost a small fortune.
Sugar sells for about 100 Israeli shekels ($27) per kilo, said Jaber, making it -- and his beloved tea -- an out-of-reach luxury.
'Humiliation'
Independent UN rights experts have accused Israel of conducting a 'starvation campaign' against Palestinians in Gaza © Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
Northern Gaza is suffering particularly badly. The UN humanitarian office OCHA says commercial trucks have not been able to make deliveries there for months.
"We lead a life of shame and humiliation," said Jaber.
The shortages include a "near total lack of protein sources", with only a few, locally sourced vegetables for sale at unaffordable prices, OCHA said on Monday.
In Deir al-Balah, the exorbitant cost of fuel, at 120 shekels per litre, has prevented trucks from delivering drinking water, according to Maysa Saleh, a Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) worker in the central Gazan city.
The price of shampoo has soared to $26, soap to $8.
"Most of us resort to showering with homemade dishwashing liquid," Saleh said. "Any washing is in salt water from the sea."
She said there had been a significant increase in diseases such as Hepatitis C.
"Unfortunately, with the lack of health care and sterilising and cleaning materials, people's health is at stake."
Thousands of aid-laden trucks meanwhile remain stuck in Egypt or the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Israel, according to NRC.
Northern Gaza is suffering particularly badly. The UN humanitarian office OCHA says commercial trucks have not been able to make deliveries there for months.
"We lead a life of shame and humiliation," said Jaber.
The shortages include a "near total lack of protein sources", with only a few, locally sourced vegetables for sale at unaffordable prices, OCHA said on Monday.
In Deir al-Balah, the exorbitant cost of fuel, at 120 shekels per litre, has prevented trucks from delivering drinking water, according to Maysa Saleh, a Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) worker in the central Gazan city.
The price of shampoo has soared to $26, soap to $8.
"Most of us resort to showering with homemade dishwashing liquid," Saleh said. "Any washing is in salt water from the sea."
She said there had been a significant increase in diseases such as Hepatitis C.
"Unfortunately, with the lack of health care and sterilising and cleaning materials, people's health is at stake."
Thousands of aid-laden trucks meanwhile remain stuck in Egypt or the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Israel, according to NRC.
Israel has repeatedly denied blocking aid deliveries into Gaza © JACK GUEZ / AFP
"Due to Israeli restrictions and breakdown of law and order, NRC has not received any aid at its sites since 3 May," the group said.
Israel has repeatedly denied blocking aid to Gaza, and blames the United Nations for not effectively delivering supplies.
'Deplorable'
Saleh, in Deir al-Balah, said families displaced by bombing campaigns elsewhere in Gaza have arrived in "deplorable conditions" after walking long distances while dodging attacks.
Almost all of Gaza's 2.4 million population has been uprooted by the war, many more than once, according to UN agencies.
And those converging on Deir al-Balah can expect little reprieve.
On Tuesday, the Barood family had only just finished surveying the damage to their home when they were woken by the thunder of bombing and children screaming.
"We were sleeping at one o'clock and suddenly we heard the sound of explosions," Eyad Barood said. The family went into the street and found his uncle's house destroyed and his aunt and cousin killed.
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the army says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive since has killed at least 38,243 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
© 2024 AFP
"Due to Israeli restrictions and breakdown of law and order, NRC has not received any aid at its sites since 3 May," the group said.
Israel has repeatedly denied blocking aid to Gaza, and blames the United Nations for not effectively delivering supplies.
'Deplorable'
Saleh, in Deir al-Balah, said families displaced by bombing campaigns elsewhere in Gaza have arrived in "deplorable conditions" after walking long distances while dodging attacks.
Almost all of Gaza's 2.4 million population has been uprooted by the war, many more than once, according to UN agencies.
And those converging on Deir al-Balah can expect little reprieve.
On Tuesday, the Barood family had only just finished surveying the damage to their home when they were woken by the thunder of bombing and children screaming.
"We were sleeping at one o'clock and suddenly we heard the sound of explosions," Eyad Barood said. The family went into the street and found his uncle's house destroyed and his aunt and cousin killed.
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the army says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive since has killed at least 38,243 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
© 2024 AFP
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