UN condemns ‘large number of civilian casualties’ in north Gaza

14 October 2024 Share Save David Gritten BBC News Share Save

AFP The Israeli military has told residents of Jabalia refugee camp and neighbouring towns to evacuate to southern Gaza

The UN has condemned the “large number of civilian casualties” caused by Israeli strikes on northern Gaza in recent days. The comments – made by a spokesperson for Secretary General Antonio Guterres – come as at least 10 people have reportedly been killed by Israeli artillery fire at a food distribution centre at Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, where Israeli tanks and troops are continuing a ground offensive. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said shells hit inside and outside the centre on Monday morning as some hungry people were trying to get food handouts. The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident, adding that it operates “only against terror targets”.

Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed since the military said it was launching the offensive in the area and two neighbouring northern towns nine days ago to root out Hamas fighters who had regrouped there. The UN said on Sunday that more than 50,000 people had fled the Jabalia area, but that others remained stranded in their homes amid increased bombardment and fighting on the ground. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said civilians must “be protected at all times”. “The secretary general condemns the large number of civilian casualties in the intensifying Israeli campaign in northern Gaza, including its schools, displacing sheltered Palestinian civilians,” he told reporters at a news conference in New York. The offensive had also forced the closure of water wells, bakeries, medical points and shelters, as well as the suspension of other humanitarian services, including malnutrition treatment, it warned. The UN said it had not been allowed to deliver essential supplies, including food, since 1 October, with two nearby border crossings closed and no deliveries allowed from the south.

The Israeli military said a convoy of 30 aid lorries entered through a crossing south of Gaza City on Sunday, when US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of what the White House called the “imperative to restore access to the north”. The military has ordered residents of Jabalia and neighbouring areas to evacuate to the Israeli-designated “humanitarian area” in southern Gaza, saying it is “operating with great force against the terrorist organisations and will continue to do so for a long time”. But many of the estimated 400,000 Palestinians living in the north say they are reluctant to flee to the south, fearing that if they do they will not be allowed to return home. They believe the Israeli military is planning to implement a plan, proposed by retired Israeli generals, to completely empty the north of civilians and besiege Hamas fighters remaining there until they release Israeli hostages held since Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel. The Israeli military has denied it is implementing the plan. “We are making sure we’re getting civilians out of harm’s way while we operate against those terror cells in Jabalia,” spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani told reporters.

Watch: People battle to put out fires after Israeli strike hits Gaza hospital tent camp

Head of British Jewish body criticises members’ open letter attack on Israel

On Tuesday, 36 members, or Deputies, signed the letter, saying it was their “duty, as Jews, to speak out”.

He also criticised the letter, published in the Financial Times , for “barely” mentioning Hamas and the role he said it had played in the breakdown of hostage release negotiations.

Phil Rosenberg, president of The Board of Deputies of British Jews, said he disagreed with the letter, which he said “lays blame squarely on the Israeli Government”.

The president of the largest communal body of Jews in the UK has responded to an open letter signed by some of its representatives criticising Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

It was the first show of opposition to the Gaza war by some of the Board’s members – which is made up of more than 300 Deputies.

Writing in an opinion piece published in the Jewish News on Thursday, Mr Rosenberg said: “Whether intentionally or otherwise, the impression that has now been put forward by certain national and international news outlets is that yesterday’s letter published in the Financial Times, signed by approximately ten percent of Deputies, is the position of the Board of Deputies as an organisation, and therefore the position of the UK Jewish community as a whole.

“This is emphatically not the case, and as president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, I speak for the organisation as a whole.”

He said the signatories “are now experiencing what I and other senior Board representatives know all too well; that it is remarkably easy to get the media to listen to you in this country if you highlight your Jewish identity while vocally criticising Israel or its government”.

Mr Rosenberg criticised the letter for the lack of mention of Hamas, stating that it gives the group “absolutely no agency… regarding the failure of the implementation of the second stage of the hostage deal”.

Israel resumed its offensive on Gaza last month after the first stage of a three-part ceasefire deal expired. It blamed Hamas for refusing to extend the first phase of the ceasefire, while Hamas accused Israel of reneging on its commitment to hold talks on the second stage.

The Board president accused Hamas of rejecting the latest ceasefire proposal, saying: “Given that Hamas just this week rejected yet another mediation put forward via Egypt, which would have required the terrorist group to disarm, I am simply unable to agree with the viewpoint aired in the FT letter which lays blame squarely on the Israeli Government.

“I am confident that the vast majority of Deputies and the Jewish community as a whole agree with me.”

He added that he believed the signatories of the open letter “have a strong and completely genuine concern for the situation in Israel and Gaza”.

Mr Rosenberg also met Israel’s visiting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gideon Saar, in London on Thursday.

In a post on social media, featuring a picture of the two shaking hands, Mr Rosenberg wrote: “@BoardofDeputies is clear: Jewish leadership is standing up for peace & security in Israel & the Middle East:

“Getting hostages out, defeating Hamas, pursuing lasting peace & security.

“Unity is strength. Division serves only our enemies.”

In Wednesday’s open letter, signatories took aim at the Israeli government, warning “Israel’s soul is being ripped out”.

The letter accused Israel’s government of choosing to “break the ceasefire and return to war in Gaza”, rather than engage in diplomacy and agree the next phase of a ceasefire deal.

Israel blocked the entry of food, medicine and other supplies on 2 March, a day after the first phase of the ceasefire expired, saying it did so to pressure Hamas. It resumed the war two weeks later.

Israel launched its military campaign after Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 51,065 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. Of that number, 1,691 have been killed since Israel restarted the war, it says.

Correction 18 April 2025: This article originally said Phil Rosenberg had visited Israel and met Israel’s foreign minister there. In fact, their meeting took place in the UK during a visit by the minister.

Dozens killed by Israeli fire near Gaza aid sites, Hamas-run ministry says

A mourner during the funeral of one of those killed while attempting to get food aid in Rafah

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said: “Israel’s means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza.”

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to get food from the GHF sites, opened by Israel after it partially lifted a three-month blockade that the UN said had pushed the Gazan population to the brink of starvation.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC that its troops fired warning shots at suspects approaching them and posing a threat.

At least 30 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire near aid distribution sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said.

Addressing the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, he accused Israel of weaponising food and repeated his call for a full investigation into the attacks near the sites. UN agencies have refused to work with the GHF.

On several previous occasions the IDF has acknowledged that its troops opened fire near aid sites.

The GHF begun re-opening its distribution sites on Sunday after closing them briefly due to security concerns.

The health ministry said 28 were killed on Monday at the GHF centre at al-Alam in the southern city of Rafah, while rescuers reported two killed at a GHF site in the central Netzarim corridor.

Many of those killed and injured at al-Alam were taken to Nasser hospital in nearby Khan Younis, where relatives gathered. Many were buried in the hours after their arrival, in line with Islamic tradition.

Ahmed Alfara, a doctor at the hospital, told the Reuters news agency that the distribution system had failed “100%”.

“No one can get that distribution, that aid, no one can get it,” he said.

“We have to recognise that [UN humanitarian agency] Unrwa and NGOs must again get that distribution and try to redistribute it for the Palestinian people.”

He reported that many of the casualties on Monday had suffered gunshot wounds, including to the head.

Ahmed Fayad, who attempted to get food from the GHF site on Monday, described the GHF operation as a “trap”.

“We went there thinking we would get aid to feed our children, but it turned out to be a trap, a killing. I advise everyone: don’t go there,” he told Reuters.

Al-Alam has been the scene of several similar deadly incidents since the new Israeli-backed food distribution system began operating.

Before Monday’s incident, the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said that at least 300 people had been killed and more than 2,600 wounded near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations in Gaza on 26 May.

The IDF has contested the death toll and said Hamas had caused much of the violence.

Israel does not allow international news organisations including the BBC into Gaza, making verifying what is happening in the territory difficult.

It has been 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 55,297 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.

UN says ‘trickle’ of aid reaches north Gaza, as Israel denies blocking access

16 October 2024 Share Save David Gritten BBC News Share Save

Cogat Israeli military body Cogat said 50 lorries delivered aid from Jordan to northern Gaza on Wednesday

Israel has denied obstructing humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, after the US warned its ally in a letter to urgently boost humanitarian access or risk having some military assistance cut off. The first aid in two weeks was allowed into northern Gaza following the letter, but the UN’s acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya described it as a “trickle”. In the letter sent on Sunday, the US expressed deep concern at the humanitarian situation and said Israeli actions had contributed to it. Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, told the Security Council that it had “flooded Gaza with as much aid as possible” and accused the Palestinian armed group Hamas of stealing and selling shipments.

Ms Msuya warned that essential supplies are running out for about 400,000 Palestinians in the north, amid an Israeli ground offensive against what the military says are regrouping Hamas fighters in and around the Jabalia area.

The strongly worded letter sent by the Biden administration accuses Israel of halting commercial imports to Gaza, denying or impeding nearly 90% of humanitarian movements between the north and south in September, placing excessive restrictions on dual-use goods, and instituting new vetting and customs requirements for humanitarian staff. The letter says Israel “must, starting now and within 30 days” act on a series of concrete measures to boost aid supplies, citing US laws which can prohibit military assistance to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian aid. It says Israel must “surge all forms of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza” before winter, including by enabling a minimum of 350 lorries a day to enter through all four major crossings and a new fifth crossing, as well as allowing the 1.7 million displaced people crowded in the coastal al-Mawasi “humanitarian area” to move inland. It also calls on Israel to ensure deliveries via the Jordanian land corridor are not impeded and to end the “isolation of northern Gaza”. The Israeli government has not responded to the letter since it was leaked on Tuesday, but Mr Danon told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that “the issue in Gaza is not a lack of aid”. “More than enough aid has entered to sustain every civilian in Gaza, with over one million tonnes delivered since the war began. Yet, the challenges continue – yes, we admit that. And it’s not due to Israel’s efforts of failure to deliver humanitarian assistance,” he said. “The real issue is Hamas. This terrorist organisation has hijacked the aid, saving it for their own purposes. They steal and even sell the aid that is intended for Gazan civilians, turning humanitarian relief into a profit machine.” Hamas has previously denied stealing aid and said Israel is to blame for shortages. Israel is not allowing international journalists from media organisations, including the BBC, independent access to Gaza making it difficult to verify facts on the ground.

Earlier, the Israeli military body responsible for managing crossings into Gaza, Cogat, said aid had been delivered to northern Gaza for the third consecutive day following a two-week period when the UN said no aid was allowed in. Fifty lorries carrying food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment from Jordan crossed via the Erez West crossing, it added. The UN meanwhile confirmed that almost 30 lorry loads of aid had entered the north on Monday and another 12 lorry loads the following day. Ms Msuya said that constituted a “trickle” and that “all essential supplies for survival are running out”. “There is now barely any food left to distribute, and most bakeries will be forced to shut down again in the next several days without additional fuel,” she said. “Given the abject conditions and intolerable suffering in north Gaza, the fact that humanitarian access is nearly non-existent is unconscionable.”

Gaza mediators intensifying ceasefire efforts, Hamas official says

26 June 2025 Share Save David Gritten BBC News Reporting from London Rushdi Abualouf Gaza correspondent Reporting from Cairo Share Save

Reuters Funerals were held at Gaza City for Palestinians reportedly killed in a Israeli air strikes

A senior Hamas official has told the BBC that mediators have intensified their efforts to broker a new ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, but that negotiations with Israel remain stalled. The comments came as US President Donald Trump said “great progress” was being made since Israel and Iran ended their 12-day war on Tuesday, and that his envoy Steve Witkoff thought an agreement between Israel and Hamas was “very close”. Israeli attacks across Gaza on Wednesday killed at least 45 Palestinians, including some who were seeking aid, the Hamas-run health ministry said. Meanwhile, the Israeli military announced that seven soldiers were killed in a bomb attack on Tuesday claimed by Hamas.

“I think great progress is being made on Gaza, I think because of this attack that we made,” Trump told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday, referring to the US air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities carried out at the weekend amid the conflict between Israel and Iran. “I think we’re going to have some very good news. I was talking to Steve Witkoff… [and] he did tell me that Gaza’s very close.” Shortly after Trump spoke, the senior Hamas official told the BBC that mediators were “engaged in intensive contacts aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement”. However, he added that the group had “not received any new proposal so far”. An Israeli official also told the newspaper Haaretz that there has been no progress in the negotiations, and that major disagreements remained unresolved.

Efforts by the US, Qatar and Egypt to broker a deal stalled at the end of May, when Witkoff said Hamas had sought “totally unacceptable” amendments to a US proposal backed by Israel for a 60-day truce, during which half the living Israeli hostages and half of those who have died would be released. Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on 18 March, collapsing a two-month ceasefire. It said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release its hostages. Fifty are still in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Israel also imposed a total blockade on humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza at the start of March, which it partially eased after 11 weeks following pressure from US allies and warnings from global experts that half a million people were facing starvation. At the same time, Israel and the US backed the establishment of a new aid distribution mechanism run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is intended to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid to Palestinians. They said the GHF’s system would prevent aid being stolen by Hamas, which the group denies doing.

Reuters In the town of Beit Lahia, crowds gathered around aid lorries guarded by armed members of local clans

The GHF, which uses US private security contractors, says it has distributed food packages containing more than 44 million meals since it began operating on 26 May, with more than 2.4 million handed out at three sites on Wednesday. However, the UN and other aid groups have refused to co-operate with the GHF, accusing it of co-operating with Israel’s goals in a way that violates fundamental humanitarian principles. They have also expressed alarm at the near-daily reports of Palestinians being killed near the group’s sites, which are inside Israeli military zones. At least 549 people have been killed and 4,000 injured while trying to collect aid since the GHF began distributing aid on 26 May, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

On Wednesday morning, a spokesman for the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said six people were killed when Israeli forces opened fire at crowds waiting near one of the GHF’s food distribution centre in central Gaza. Three others were killed near a GHF site in the southern city of Rafah, he added. However, the Israeli military said it was “not aware of any incidents with casualties in those areas”, while the GHF said the reports of any such incidents near its sites were false. In Gaza City, funerals were held for some of the 33 people who the health ministry said had been killed over the previous day while waiting for aid. “I say and repeat a million times,” Abu Mohammed told news agency Reuters. “These aid points are not aid points, these are death points.” Unicef spokesman James Elder, who has just visited Gaza, said: “So long as a population is denied food, people are being offered this lethal choice and, unfortunately, because it’s in a combat zone, it cannot improve.” The Civil Defence spokesman also said another six people, including a child, were killed in an air strike on a house early on Wednesday in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza. Five others were killed when homes in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, he said.

More than 860 Palestinians were reported killed by Israeli forces in Gaza during the Israel-Iran conflict, which began when Israel launched an air campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Iran launched barrages of missiles towards Israel in response. People in Gaza were divided in their assessments of what the ceasefire meant for the territory. Some viewed the weakening of Iran, Hamas’s key regional backer, as a potentially positive step towards achieving a truce in Gaza because it might force the group to ease its demands. Others, however, feared the end of the conflict would allow Israel to redirect its military focus back on Gaza and intensify its air and ground operations. One man in Khan Younis, Nader Ramadan, told the BBC that it felt like “everything got worse” in Gaza during the conflict. “The [Israeli] bombing intensified, the damage increased, and the incursion expanded in certain areas… We only felt the destruction,” he said. Adel Abu Reda said the most difficult thing was the lack of access to aid. He said items were being looted and sold for inflated prices, and civilians were coming under Israeli fire when trying to get food. “What are we supposed to do?” he asked. “We feel the shooting and the killing all the time.”

Reuters One of the Israeli soldiers killed in the Khan Younis attack, Sgt Shahar Manoav, was buried in Ashkelon