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1,857 Palestinians killed in less than 3 months in Gaza while seeking food: UN rights office

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Palestinians flock to the Zikim crossing to acquire limited food aid as hunger crisis worsens with the ongoing Israeli blockade in North Gaza, Gaza on August 18, 2025. [Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut – Anadolu Agency]

The UN human rights office on Tuesday said over 1,850 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food in Gaza in less than three months, warning that humanitarian conditions are worsening as Israel continues to restrict aid, Anadolu reports.

“Reaching the meagre supplies available can be a deadly pursuit,” spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva, noting that between May 27 and Aug. 17, the human rights office documented that 1,857 Palestinians were killed while seeking food, “including 1,021 killed in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 836 killed on the routes of supply trucks.”

“Most of these killings appear to have been committed by the Israeli military,” he said.

He warned that “the risk of starvation is everywhere in Gaza,” describing it as “a direct result of the Israeli government’s policy of blocking humanitarian aid.”

“In the past few weeks, Israeli authorities have only allowed aid to enter in quantities that remain far below what would be required to avert widespread starvation.”

READ: Israel’s plan to occupy Gaza will cause devastating humanitarian impact, warns OCHA

The spokesperson also noted that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, displaced to the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, have little or no access to essential services and supplies, including food, water, electricity, and tents.

He added that the Israeli army has intensified its attacks in the north of the strip, while displacement orders continue even in areas where strikes are recorded.

The spokesperson also recalled High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk’s remarks that warned against plans for a military takeover of Gaza City, saying such a move “must be immediately halted.”

Al-Kheetan said the plan has a “huge risk” for civilians, explaining the risks as mass displacement, more killings, and more misery.

He also addressed the recently released footage of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, showing Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi in prison.

“Video footage showing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir berating and taunting Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi face-to-face inside an Israeli jail is unacceptable,” he said.

“The minister’s behavior and the publication of the footage constitute an attack on Barghouthi’s dignity.”

Israel has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

READ: UNICEF: Gaza’s children killed wherever they are, calls to prioritise their lives

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

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 Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are participants and complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide providing Israel with army 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 Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are participants and complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide providing Israel with army 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 Reading1,857 Palestinians killed in less than 3 months in Gaza while seeking food: UN rights office

Gaza ‘humanitarian zone’ struck almost 100 times since May, BBC Verify finds

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2jld7j50eo

The area in Gaza which Israel’s military has told people to go to “for their safety” has been hit by 97 strikes since May, BBC Verify analysis has revealed.

The findings come as negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appear to be nearing a breakthrough. Mediators in Qatar say talks are in their final stages, raising hopes that an agreement could be reached soon.

The “humanitarian zone” was first established by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in October 2023 to protect civilians and keep them out of harms way.

On 6 May 2024, the IDF significantly expanded the zone to include the cities of Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah.

The area – much of which is a strip of land along the Mediterranean sea – is densely populated and is estimated to have over a million people living there according to international humanitarian organisations. Many people are living in tents, with limited infrastructure and limited access to aid.

Local media reports indicate more than 550 people have been killed in the 97 strikes mapped by BBC Verify.

In a statement to BBC Verify, the IDF said it was targeting Hamas fighters operating in the “humanitarian zone” and accused the group of violating international law while “exploiting” civilians as human shields and launching rockets from the area.

…

Article continues at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2jld7j50eo

Continue ReadingGaza ‘humanitarian zone’ struck almost 100 times since May, BBC Verify finds

Israel’s siege now blocks 83% of food aid reaching Gaza, new data reveals

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Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel continued to battle Hamas fighters on October 10 and massed tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour around the Gaza Strip after vowing a massive blow over the Palestinian militants' surprise attack. Photo by Naaman Omar apaimages. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel continued to battle Hamas fighters on October 10 and massed tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour around the Gaza Strip after vowing a massive blow over the Palestinian militants’ surprise attack. Photo by Naaman Omar apaimages. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

15 aid organisations demand international pressure for an immediate ceasefire, arms embargo, and end to Israel’s systematic aid obstruction

New data has revealed the scale of aid obstruction, and the consequential drastic fall in aid entering Gaza. This is driving a humanitarian disaster, with the entire population of Gaza facing hunger and disease, and almost half a million at risk of starvation. 

While Israeli military attacks on Gaza intensify, lifesaving food, medicine, medical supplies, fuel, and tents have been systematically blocked from entering for almost a year. 

Data analysis by organisations working in Gaza has found that as a consequence of the Israeli government’s obstruction of aid: 

  • 83% of required food aid does not make it into Gaza, up from 34% in 2023.This reduction means people in Gaza have gone from having an average of two meals a day to just one meal every other day. An estimated 50,000 children aged between 6-59 months urgently require treatment for malnutrition by the end of the year.
  • 65% of the insulin required and half of the required blood supply are not available in Gaza. 
  • Availability of hygiene items has dropped to 15% of the amount available in September 2023. One million women are now going without the hygiene supplies they need. 
  • Only around 1,500 hospital beds in Gaza remain operational, compared to around 3,500 beds in 2023 which was already well below sufficient to meet the needs of a population of more than 2 million people. By comparison, cities of similar size, such as Chicago and Paris average 5 to 8 times more beds than in Gaza. 
  • 1.87 million people are in need of shelter with at least 60% of homes destroyed or damaged (January 2024). Yet tents for around just 25,000 people have entered Gaza since May 2024.

A record low average of 69 aid trucks per day entered Gaza in August 2024, compared to 500 per working day last year; which was already not enough to meet people’s needs. In August more than 1 million people did not receive any food rations in southern and central Gaza. 

Now, only 17 out of 36 hospitals remain partially functional. Critical infrastructure such as water networks, sanitation facilities and bread mills have been razed to the ground. 

While humanitarian needs are ever increasing, agencies have detailed six main ways their life-saving aid is systematically obstructed on a daily basis.

These include the denial of safety, with more than 40,000 Palestinians and nearly 300 aid workers killed since last October; the sharp tightening of a 17-year blockade to a full siege, which prevents aid from entering Gaza; delays and denials which restrict the movement of aid around Gaza; tightly restrictive and unpredictable control of imports; the destruction of public infrastructure such as schools and hospitals; and the displacement of civilians and humanitarian workers (witnessed again in recent displacement orders from the so-called “humanitarian zone” in Deir el-Balah.)

Ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, aid agencies are calling on governments to demand Israel end aid obstruction and to:

  • Secure an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. 
  • Implement an arms embargo and end the export of weapons and military equipment that risk being used in violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law. 
  • Demand compliance with the International Court of Justice’s findings and recommendations, an end to the Israeli government’s siege of Gaza, and heed the call of the ICJ in its advisory opinion to end the occupation of Palestinian territory. 

Jolien Veldwijik, CARE Country Director in the West Bank and Gaza, said:

“The situation was intolerable long before last October’s escalation and is beyond catastrophic now. Over 11 months, we have reached shocking levels of conflict, displacement, disease and hunger. Yet, aid is still not getting in, and humanitarian workers are risking their lives to do their jobs while attacks and violations of international law intensify. Aid, which is urgently required for 2.2 million people at risk of dying in the coming weeks and months, should never be politicised. We demand an immediate and sustained ceasefire, and the free flow of humanitarian aid into and throughout Gaza.” 

Amjad Al Shawa, the director of the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), an umbrella organisation of 30 Palestinian NGOs and a partner of ActionAid, said:

 “There is a shortage of all humanitarian items. We are overwhelmed [with] these needs and [these] urgent requirements…People [are] starving due to the shortage of aid…100% of the population depend on humanitarian aid…It’s the worst situation that we [witnessed] during …. the Israel war in Gaza.”

  1. CARE International
  2. Save the Children
  3. ActionAid
  4. Christian Aid
  5. War Child
  6. Islamic Relief
  7. HelpAge International 
  8. American Friends Service Committee
  9. Oxfam
  10. DanChurchAid
  11. Norwegian Church Aid
  12. Mennonite Central Committee
  13. Danish Refugee Council
  14. Norwegian Refugee Council
  15. KinderUSA

Continue ReadingIsrael’s siege now blocks 83% of food aid reaching Gaza, new data reveals

Suella Braverman still pushing for crackdown on use of tents by homeless

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Image quoting Suella 'Sue-Ellen' Braverman reads ‘Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati’.
Image quoting Suella ‘Sue-Ellen’ Braverman reads ‘Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati’.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67344806

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is still pushing for restrictions on the use of tents by rough sleepers in England and Wales.

The proposal was not in the King’s Speech setting out the government’s priorities for the year ahead.

But a source close to Mrs Braverman insisted the idea had not been dropped.

Downing Street said it would not speculate on whether the proposal would eventually be included in the Criminal Justice Bill.

The bill – which was in the King’s Speech – includes proposed new powers to tackle “persistent, nuisance, and organised begging”.

It is designed to replace the 1824 Vagrancy Act, which makes begging and rough sleeping a criminal offence in England and Wales.

One senior government source told the BBC the Criminal Justice Bill had been due to start its journey into law on Wednesday, but its introduction in the Commons had been delayed by discussions about whether to include the tents idea.

…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67344806

Continue ReadingSuella Braverman still pushing for crackdown on use of tents by homeless

Morning Star: Rising homelessness is the Tories’ fault – not a ‘lifestyle choice’

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Image quoting Suella 'Sue-Ellen' Braverman reads ‘Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati’.
Image quoting Suella ‘Sue-Ellen’ Braverman reads ‘Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati’.

https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/rising-homelessness-tories-fault-not-lifestyle-choice

SUELLA BRAVERMAN’S attack on the homeless plumbs new depths from a minister already known for kicking downwards.

It combines a xenophobic jibe at foreigners with brazen victim-blaming, ludicrously terming rough sleeping a “lifestyle choice” when the rise in homelessness is demonstrably the fault of the Conservative government.

The Home Secretary knows that the homelessness crisis cannot be swept under the carpet.

Rough sleeping has risen by 74 per cent since 2010, according to the government’s own figures. The rapid provision of safe accommodation to thousands of homeless people during the pandemic showed rough sleeping can be ended almost overnight where there is the political will: but as soon as the lockdowns passed the will disappeared, and a 26 per cent rise in rough sleeping last year alone points to the devastating impact of the cost-of-living crisis. Homeless Link CEO Rick Henderson pointed to the causes at the start of the year: “A shortage of affordable housing, an often punitive welfare system and increasingly stretched health services.”

The results are visible everywhere. It is now rare to take a journey in one of our larger cities without encountering beggars. This is an indictment of 13 years of Tory rule.

…

https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/rising-homelessness-tories-fault-not-lifestyle-choice

Continue ReadingMorning Star: Rising homelessness is the Tories’ fault – not a ‘lifestyle choice’