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Starvation Being Used as Weapon of War as ‘Israel’s Genocide Has Continued Unabated in Gaza,’ Says Amnesty

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A woman holding a girl reacts after Israeli airstrikes hit Ridwan neighborhood of Gaza City, Gaza on October 23, 2023. (Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images) Palestinians gather for receive food on July 03, 2025 in Khan Yunis, Gaza. (Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Human rights organization Amnesty International has released a horrifying new report alleging that the Israeli government is still deliberately allowing civilians in Gaza to starve as a “weapon of war.”

In its report released on Thursday, Amnesty cites “heartbreaking testimonies gathered from medical staff, parents of children hospitalized for malnutrition, and displaced Palestinians struggling to survive” to document “acute levels of starvation and desperation in Gaza.”

The report pins the primary blame for this situation on Israel’s insistence on running what Amnesty describes as a “militarized” system for delivering humanitarian aid via the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that has resulted in hundreds of Palestinians being killed and thousands more being injured by Israeli forces who have opened fire on civilians seeking food in multiple instances.

Amnesty charges that the Israeli government has barred the United Nations and other international humanitarian assistance organizations from operating inside Gaza and has transformed the process of receiving aid into a “booby trap” for civilians who risk getting shot while standing in line for food. Compounding the problem, writes Amnesty, is that Israel is delivering a level of aid that is “way below the humanitarian needs of a population that has been experiencing almost daily bombings for the last 20 months.”

This slow trickle of aid is despite the fact that hundreds of trucks containing aid are stationed near the Egyptian border with Gaza but are barred from entering the territory, writes Amnesty.

“As the occupying power, Israel has a legal obligation to ensure Palestinians in Gaza have access to food, medicine and other supplies essential for their survival,” said Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International. “Instead, it has brazenly defied binding orders issued by the International Court of Justice in January, March and May 2024, to allow the unimpeded flow of aid to Gaza. Israel has continued to restrict the entry of aid and impose its suffocating cruel blockade and even a full siege lasting nearly eighty days.”

Amnesty released its report hours after the Associated Press reported that two American contractors who are helping to distribute aid in Gaza are alleging that Israeli forces have been deploying “live ammunition and stun grenades” on unarmed civilians seeking food. In one instance, a contractor alleged he saw members of Israeli forces firing bullets in “all directions—in the air, into the ground, and at times toward the Palestinians.”

“There are innocent people being hurt,” said one contractor, who wished to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation for revealing information on their employer’s internal operations. “Badly. Needlessly.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry defended its aid program to Gaza in a post on the social media platform X and baselessly accused Amnesty of being in league with the terrorist organization Hamas.

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingStarvation Being Used as Weapon of War as ‘Israel’s Genocide Has Continued Unabated in Gaza,’ Says Amnesty

Gaza: Doctors under attack

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Louisa Compton, Channel 4 Head of News and Current Affairs and Specialist Factual and Sport said

The job of journalists is to tell the stories that people need to know. Often, that means telling stories that other people, the people who are subjects of our investigations, would rather were not heard.

Few situations in the world today have illustrated those two truisms more clearly than the October 7 massacres in Israel and the 21 months of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza that followed.

One of the ways in which the reality of that situation has been reported – and to many people’s way of thinking has been under-reported – is the story of how the fighting has embroiled the medical services operating in Gaza. 

On Wednesday night, Channel 4 will screen Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, a documentary produced during much of that long period of conflict, which offers powerful evidence that the doctors, nurses and paramedics of Gaza have been denied the non-combatant protection that the norms of warfare usually offer them.

Their hospitals have become combat zones, their very operating theatres have been conscripted into the military theatre of operations.

One side says this has happened through the deliberate choice of their enemy. The other side says it is an unavoidable result of their enemy’s tactics.

Perhaps this is the new normal of warfare, because the whole conflict, from the first murderous moments of the October 7th massacre of innocents to the latest report of machine guns aimed at food queues, has shifted norms in disturbing ways.

In this particular aspect, each side accuses the other of denying medicine its neutrality. The Israel Defence Force says Hamas uses hospitals, patients and medical staff as shields for terrorist headquarters; Gaza’s health authorities and medics accuse the IDF of besieging those hospitals, forcibly evacuating those patients, detaining, terrorising, brutalising and targeting those doctors, nurses and support staff.

In video that is terribly hard to watch and with testimony delivered through tears and anguish, this documentary presents evidence that Israel’s armed forces have deliberately dragged those offering medical aid into the frontline. It also reports the IDF’s strong denials of allegations that medics were tortured.

We are showing this programme because we believe that, following thorough fact-checking and verification, we are presenting a duly impartial view of a subject that both divides opinion and frequently provokes dispute about what constitutes a fact. 

Channel 4 has a strong tradition of putting uncomfortable reporting in front of our audiences. In doing so, we know we will antagonise somebody somewhere sometime. But we do it because we believe it is our duty to tell important journalistic stories – especially those that aren’t being told elsewhere.

21.50 edit: Louisa Compton, Channel 4 Head of News and Current Affairs and Specialist Factual and Sport continued

Doctors Under Attack, was commissioned by another broadcaster which took a different view of the original content and decided not to broadcast it.

That other broadcaster will have had its own reasons for not showing the programme. For ourselves, after rigorous fact-checking and assessing the film against our own editorial criteria as well as against all regulatory requirements, we decided that it was both compliant with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, but also that it was important journalism in the public interest. Any small changes were carried out with the producers to update the film and give viewers as much information as possible.

The result is harrowing, no doubt. It will make people angry, whichever side they take, or if they take no side.

But while we would never judge anyone who decides that showing something could create a risk of being thought to be taking sides, we believe there are times when the same risk is run by not showing anything at all.

dizzy: The other broadcaster referred to is BBC.

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Continue ReadingGaza: Doctors under attack

Thousands of Israelis stage nationwide protests to demand release of hostages in Gaza: Report

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Protesters gather in Tel Aviv on June 28, 2025. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

Tens of thousands of people rallied across Israel on Saturday, calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, according to local media reports, Anadolu reported.

Demonstrations were held in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities, according to the Haaretz newspaper.

Protests followed a 12‑day conflict between Israel and Iran, which erupted June 13 when Tel Aviv launched airstrikes on Iranian military, nuclear and civilian sites, killing at least 606 victims and injuring 5,332, according to the Iranian Health Ministry.

Tehran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes, killing at least 29 people and wounding more than 3,400 in Israel, according to figures released by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The conflict came to a halt under a US-sponsored ceasefire that took effect June 24.

On the heels of getting Tel Aviv and Tehran to sing a deal, US President Donald Trump said Friday that a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will be reached soon.

“I think it’s close,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked how close his administration is to a deal on a Gaza ceasefire.

READ: Trump says he thinks Gaza ceasefire to be reached ‘within the next week’

Israeli officials expressed surprise Saturday at those remarks, affirming there are no indications of any change in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s positions, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Hamas has repeatedly affirmed its readiness to release Israeli hostages “all at once” in exchange for an end to Israel’s genocidal war, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

But Netanyahu, who is wanted by international justice officials, insists on partial deals and evades signing a deal by imposing new conditions, including the disarmament of Palestinian factions.

According to the Israeli opposition, Netanyahu currently insists on reoccupying Gaza to serve his political interests, particularly maintaining his hold on power.

Israeli officials estimate that Trump seeks to leverage the momentum following the end of the Israel-Iran confrontation to achieve an additional political accomplishment.

In May, the US president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff presented a proposal to Hamas that included the release of half of the living Israeli hostages and half of those killed within seven days of the start of a potential agreement, in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire.

Tel Aviv estimates that there are 50 Israeli hostages in Gaza, including 20 alive. There are more than 10,400 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, suffering from torture, starvation and medical neglect, which has resulted in many deaths, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 56,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

READ: Nearly 100,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza amid Israeli war: Haaretz

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Continue ReadingThousands of Israelis stage nationwide protests to demand release of hostages in Gaza: Report

Netanyahu stops Gaza aid after Smotrich threatens to quit government

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Charity organizations distribute food to Palestinians at Nusierat Refugee Camp in Gaza City, Gaza on June 26, 2025. [Hassan Jedi – Anadolu Agency]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a halt to aid deliveries to northern Gaza after far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to quit the coalition, citing unverified claims that Hamas was looting humanitarian supplies.

Smotrich reportedly made the ultimatum during a cabinet meeting, referencing a widely circulated video on social media showing armed men atop aid trucks. Although the footage was quickly seized upon by pro-government figures including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Israel’s own military has been unable to confirm that the gunmen were affiliated with Hamas.

Haaretz cited media outlets in the Gaza Strip who reported that the gunmen are not Hamas operatives, but security guards sent by tribal leaders to protect aid truck convoys from looting. The aid documented in the video reached its destination – the UN warehouses in the Gaza Strip – and was distributed to residents

Despite this, Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the army to submit a “plan of action” within 48 hours to prevent what they described as Hamas “taking control of the humanitarian aid entering northern Gaza and stealing it from civilians.”

Israel has continually blamed Hamas for the looting of aid and used it as a justification to bypass UN aid distribution mechanisms to install the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Observers have stressed that the worsening aid crisis has been driven not by Hamas but by criminal gangs—some empowered by Israel itself. Among them is the militia led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a figure named in UN documents for systematically looting aid. His group has been armed and supported by Israel in an apparent effort to establish a post-Hamas order in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli security source, quoted in Yedioth Ahronoth, warned that the plan is failing. Abu Shabab’s group, active near Rafah, has struggled to assert control or fulfil Israel’s expectations, and internal divisions have complicated their operations.

In a public statement, the Abu Shabab militia paradoxically demanded an “immediate solution” to the problem of aid theft—despite being implicated in it. The group offered vague promises about a new distribution mechanism but gave no details.

Israel’s reliance on criminal gangs and tribal militias to manage aid distribution has failed to bring order. Although the US-funded GHF remains the main agency overseeing aid deliveries, the presence of armed groups has contributed to worsening insecurity.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, over 500 Palestinians have been killed in the past month during Israeli shooting at food distribution centres, as crowds gathered in desperation.

On Wednesday, 74 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, 33 of them while waiting for food. The total Palestinian death toll since October 7 now exceeds 56,000.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is deepening, with mass starvation looming. In June alone, over 1,600 children were hospitalised for severe malnutrition.

READ: Israel’s Netanyahu requests two-week break from corruption trial citing “regional developments”

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Keir "I support Zionism without Qualification" Starmer supporting genocide.
Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA

Continue ReadingNetanyahu stops Gaza aid after Smotrich threatens to quit government

International Red Cross Chief Says Gaza Conditions ‘Worse’ Than ‘Hell on Earth’

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/humanitarian-situation-gaza

A Palestinian woman mourns people killed in an Israeli attack on makeshift tents for displaced civilians in Gaza City, Gaza on June 4, 2025. 
(Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images

“We cannot continue to watch what is happening,” said Mirjana Spoljaric. “It’s surpassing any acceptable legal, moral, and humane standard.”

The president of one of the world’s top humanitarian groups said in an interview Wednesday that nearly 20 months after Israel began its relentless assault on Gaza, the international community is watching “a type of warfare… that deprives civilians of their dignity entirely.”

Jeremy Bowen, international editor for BBC News, asked International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) president Mirjana Spoljaric about comments she made last month when she visited Gaza, several weeks into Israel’s total blockade on humanitarian aid, and declared that the enclave had been transformed into “hell on Earth.”

“Has anything changed?” asked Bowen.

“It has become worse,” replied Spoljaric. “Humanity is failing in Gaza… We cannot continue to watch what is happening. It’s surpassing any acceptable legal, moral, and humane standard.”

Spoljaric’s latest remarks came a week after the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began its aid operations, with proponents claiming the private company staffed by U.S. security contractors would save the lives of Gaza residents who have faced increasing starvation and malnutrition since the current blockade began in March—while ensuring Hamas did not steal or divert the aid. The United Nations has said there is no evidence Hamas has systematically diverted relief from civilians.

Fears about the GHF’s plan—expressed by aid organizations, the U.N., and the former executive director who resigned the day before operations began—have been proven correct since the group opened its distribution sites in southern Gaza last week. At least 27 Palestinians were killed Tuesday at one of the aid sites when the Israel Defense Forces opened fire—yet another incident of the IDF killing of people trying to obtain aid.

The ICRC said its field hospital in Rafah received “a mass casualty influx of 184 patients” early on Tuesday morning.

“This includes nineteen cases who were declared dead upon arrival and eight more who died due to their wounds shortly after,” said the group. “The majority of cases suffered gunshot wounds. Again, all responsive patients said they were trying to reach an assistance distribution site.”

Mohamed Zidan, the husband of a woman named Reem al-Akhras who was killed in Tuesday’s mass shooting, said the GHF operation was “not humanitarian aid—it’s a trap.”

“She went to bring us some food, and this is what happened to her,” her son Zain Zidan told Al Jazeera.

Journalist Rania Khalek condemned corporate news outlets for their reports of “conflicting accounts” as Israel said that the IDF fired only at “several suspects moving toward them.”

“Outrageous,” said Khalek. “The Israelis are proven liars, their narrative should not be given any legitimacy. CNN continues to cover for genocide, shameful.”

Israeli forces also opened fire at one of the sites on Sunday, killing 20 people and wounding hundreds who had walked an average of 9.3 miles to the distribution hub, hoping to carry home food boxes weighing about 44 pounds, with enough food to last about three days before they would need to make the trek—and avoid IDF soldiers stationed at the sites—again.

On Wednesday, the GHF said its four distribution sites would be closed for the day to improve “organization and efficiency,” while the IDF warned Palestinians to stay away from the sites and the roads leading to them, saying they had been designated “combat zones.”

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres demanded an independent inquiry into the killing of Palestinians at food distribution sites.

“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” Guterres said.

Gaza’s Health Ministry reported Wednesday that at least 94 Palestinians had been killed and 440 had been wounded in Israel’s attacks across the enclave in the past 24 hours.

In her interview with the BBC, Spoljaric said that the destruction of more than 90% of Gaza’s housing units, the risk of famine for the entire population, and the forced displacement of 90% of Palestinians in the enclave represent “a people being entirely stripped of its human dignity.”

“There is no excuse for depriving children of their access to food, health, and security,” said Spoljaric. “There are rules in the conduct of hostilities that every party to every conflict has to respect.”

Spoljaric called on international leaders to take all available actions to stop “a type of warfare that shows utmost disrespect for civilians.”

“Today we are in it,” she said. “Today we can reverse it. We can save lives today.”

Few U.S. officials have called for an end to the government’s support for the IDF, and the U.S. continues to repeat Israel’s claim that it is acting in self-defense and targeting Hamas rather than civilians.

Several European leaders in recent weeks have harshly criticized Israel’s intensified military campaign in Gaza and its humanitarian aid blockade, with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul suggesting the country could soon impose arms export sanctions.

“It’s important to act now,” said Spoljaric. “State leaders are under an obligation to act.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/humanitarian-situation-gaza

Original article by republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.

Continue ReadingInternational Red Cross Chief Says Gaza Conditions ‘Worse’ Than ‘Hell on Earth’