An Israeli air strike killed Palestinian journalist Walaa al-Jabari along with her entire family in Gaza City on Wednesday, raising the number of media workers killed during Israel’s war on Gaza to at least 231.

Jabari, who was pregnant at the time, was killed when her home in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood in southwest Gaza City was bombed.

The strike also killed her husband, Amjad al-Shaer, and four of their children.

Local reports said the force of the blast was so intense it ejected her unborn child from her womb.

Images circulating on social media show a fetus wrapped in a shroud, though Middle East Eye could not independently verify their authenticity.

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Jabari worked as a newspaper editor for several local media outlets and is one of many Palestinian journalists killed in what rights groups and press advocates have called targeted Israeli attacks on the media.

Her death brings the total number of journalists killed by Israeli forces since October 2023 to at least 231, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

Earlier this week, Israeli forces shot and killed photojournalist Tamer al-Zaanin during a raid near a Red Cross facility in Rafah.

During the same operation, an undercover Israeli unit detained Dr Marwan al-Hams, the director of field hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

‘Systemic crimes against journalists’

The Government Media Office called on international organisations and the broader international community to condemn what it described as “systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals”.

AFP warns Gaza journalists risk starving to death amid ongoing Israeli siege Read More »

“We also call on them to exert serious and effective pressure to stop the crime of genocide, protect journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip, and stop the murder and assassination of them,” the office said.

“We ask God Almighty to grant all our martyred colleagues and journalists mercy, acceptance, and Paradise, and to grant their families and the Palestinian press family patience and solace. We also wish a speedy recovery to all the wounded journalists.”

Israel’s war on Gaza has been described as the “worst ever conflict” for journalists, according to a report published in April by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

The report, titled News Graveyards: How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World, said the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip since October 2023 had “killed more journalists than the US Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War (including the conflicts in Cambodia and Laos), the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2000s, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, combined”.

A US mercenary unloaded an entire can of pepper spray into the face of a Palestinian man picking noodles off the ground, and other contractors shot into crowds of starving people trying to collect food in Gaza, a US security contractor told Israeli media.

Those are just some of the harrowing details that a 25-year-old contractor who recently worked for a security firm guarding distribution sites for the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) shared with Israel’s Channel 12 news in aninterview aired on Tuesday.

The man, whose face was blurred and voice distorted to protect his identity, said he was a US military veteran who had deployed 12 times to four different war zones, but never saw such violence carried out against unarmed civilians as that by Israeli soldiers and US mercenaries in Gaza.

Piles of dead bodies and wounded people. That is all 18 year-old Mohammad al-Ewadi could see around him.

He was among thousands of starving Palestinians heading towards the al-Sudaniya area in northwestern Gaza City on Sunday morning.

There, trucks from the World Food Programme (WFP) were expected to arrive, offering a rare chance to access long-denied essential supplies.

But as people gathered near the truck, Israeli troops surrounded relief-seekers, directly and indiscriminately shooting towards them, according to eyewitnesses, among them Ewadi.

“They [the Israeli army] fired heavily at us from the tanks,” he told Middle East Eye, describing how military vehicles moved through the crowd, at times passing within inches of civilians.

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“There are now piles of martyrs. It was chaos… the scenes were grotesque, truly grotesque.

‘People were being shot from all directions. If someone next to you was hit, you couldn’t help them’ – Mohammad al-Ewadi, survivor

“People were being shot from all directions. If someone next to you was hit, you couldn’t help them. You just wanted to hide, in that moment, saving yourself becomes the only thing that matters.”

Ewadi estimated that tens of thousands people had gathered in the area in the hope of receiving humanitarian aid, the largest crowd he had seen since the beginning of the war.

His brother, Abdullah al-Ewadi, was among those wounded in the attack.

Health officials reported that at least 99 people were killed in the attack, with over 650 others wounded.

The attack brought the total death toll of humanitarian aid seekers since the end of May to more than 1,021, with over 6,511 Palestinians wounded.

The Gaza health ministry reported that at least 99 people were killed in the Israeli attack, with over 650 others injured (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)

Among those wounded was Farah Hisham al-Sheesh, who made his way to the area at around 10am, following rumours of a new delivery of aid.

There, he was hit in the head during the Israeli shelling.

“God is sufficient, that’s all we can say,” he told MEE.

Nafez Hana al-Najjar, from Jabalia, another eyewitness, described a similar experience.

“We were surrounded, and I was wounded in the ear and arm. I saw men martyred in front of me, and wounded people all around. May God heal them,” he said.

Najjar told MEE it was his first time attempting to reach the area in search of aid and was shocked when Israeli tanks, soldiers, and drones began firing at the crowd.

As bullets struck him, he recalled his cousin rushing over to help, only to be shot in the heart and killed instantly.

“It was all indiscriminate and without warning… God help us,” Najjar said, his eyes welling with tears.

‘He look like a skeleton’

The Gaza Strip has been under a total Israeli siege since 2 March, when all humanitarian aid and commercial goods were blocked from entering the territory.

In late May, the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) began distributing limited food parcels at four designated locations in southern and central Gaza.

‘I lost five kilograms – imagine what’s happened to my little boy’ – Farah al-Sheesh, Palestinian father

However, the controversial new mechanism has done little to alleviate the deepening starvation crisis. Northern areas of the enclave remain largely cut off from aid delivered through this system.

Al-Sheesh, who is supporting eight family members including his wife and children, said there is “nothing left anymore” in Gaza.

He noted that a kilogram of flour cost him 140 shekels (around $41.70), forcing the family to survive on basic foodstuffs such as lentils and rice.

Among his children are two young boys, Mohammad, aged two, and Nouriddeen, six, both suffering from malnutrition, with symptoms including severe diarrhoea and vomiting.

“I lost five kilograms – imagine what’s happened to my little boy. He look like a skeleton,” Sheesh said.

Palestinians killed in the Israel attack on civilians on Sunday in north Gaza (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)

Ewadi, who is supporting 15 relatives, said they currently have no food staples at all, adding that the last time he ate bread was two months ago.

He made the journey to the Sudaniya area eight times before in an effort to obtain humanitarian aid, but was only successful twice.

“Last time, we couldn’t get anything,” he said.

“This time, praise be to God, we managed to secure 11 kilograms of flour,” Ewadi said, estimating it would last his family just four days.

Armed gangs

Once aid is secured, it is still not guaranteed that it will make it back home.

Many challenges await, including escaping death and looting.

Ewadi recalled how some of those who managed to get food supplies were stopped by armed looters on the way, and had their packages stolen.

Sheesh faced a similar fate, saying a bag of flour was once stolen from him by a group of youth.

Eyewitnesses indicate that Israeli troops and military vehicles surrounded relief-seekers, directly and indiscriminately shooting towards them, killing and wounded Palestinians (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)

Ehab al-Zein, who was also a witness to the Sunday attack, said the severe hunger and thirst people are experiencing is forcing them to risk their lives at these so-called humanitarian aid distribution points.

Frustrated, he told MEE that it had been over a week, possibly two, since he last had access to flour.

“What can we do? We are running towards death just to get a kilogram of flour. And even then, it doesn’t always work. Sometimes we come back with nothing. We die, and return home empty-handed.

‘Only God knows how I made it out alive. It took a hundred miracles’ – Ehab al-Zein, Palestinian father

“I’ve never actually managed to get anything before. This time was a blessing from God. I saw death with my own two eyes and somehow came back alive.”

Zein said he is responsible for providing for 20 family members, including his parents, sisters, his late brother’s two children, his own wife, and children.

“Only God knows what I’m going through.”

He says he won’t return to the distribution point again.

“I will die from hunger. What else can I do? Go there to be killed? I’m not going back. Let the children die of hunger, it’s better than watching them die like this.

“For an hour and a half I endured bullets flying over my head, shelling, and shooting.

“Only God knows how I made it out alive. It took a hundred miracles.”

Former United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths has accused Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza as more children starve to death in the enclave due to the continued siege.

In an exclusive interview with Middle East Eye, Griffiths said the deliberate starvation in Gaza is the worst he has seen in his many decades of work as a humanitarian.

“There can frankly be very little doubt that we are seeing starvation and hunger as an instrument of the war,” he told MEE.

“There is no prior experience in my five decades of humanitarian experience that can come close to comparison to the horror we are all seeing in Gaza,” he said.

“The UN announcement, based on serious hospital data, that people are fainting in the street from hunger and malnutrition, tells us all we need to know.

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“It is a historic fact that children die first in these circumstances. Our humanity cannot believe our eyes.”

Israel’s siege on Gaza since 2 March has blocked the entry of humanitarian supplies by the UN and its partner organisations to the enclave, bringing the 2.1 million population to the brink of famine.

At least 101 Palestinians, including 80 children, have died of starvation since March, including 15 who died of malnutrition on Monday, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), the largest humanitarian provider in Gaza, has had 6,000 trucks loaded with food and medical supplies in Egypt and Jordan for four and a half months, but Israel has yet to let them in.

Prior to the current siege, aid groups were able to bring in around 600 trucks per day – the minimum amount of aid humanitarian organisations say is needed for Gaza’s population, Unrwa head Philippe Lazzarini told MEE in May.

Unrwa’s communications director, Julitte Touma, told MEE on Tuesday that the agency has been receiving “S.O.S messages” from Palestinians, including its own staff, pleading for any food for them and their children. Some staff members have fainted on duty because of hunger, Touma said.

‘It’s a genocide’

Griffiths has over 50 years of professional experience as a humanitarian and conflict mediator with the United Nations and other global institutions.

He has served as the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, the top humanitarian aid position at the UN. In this capacity, he served for three years between July 2021 and July 2024, under the leadership of Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Members of the UN Security Council listen as Martin Griffiths speaks during a meeting on the war in Gaza, in New York on 13 May 2024 (AFP)

He presided over the UN’s humanitarian aid efforts in the first nine months of Israel’s devastating onslaught on Gaza, which he now labels a genocide.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s principal judicial organ, issued binding orders to Israel in July, March and May last year to allow and ensure the unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza amid warnings of an impending famine.

Israel has failed to abide by the orders.

‘I am absolutely convinced that what’s going on in Gaza is a genocide, because the thing speaks for itself’ – Martin Griffiths

The provisional measures orders are part of the case brought by South Africa against Israel at the ICJ, accusing it of breaching the Genocide Convention of 1948, including by imposing conditions of life intended to destroy Palestinians as a group.

“I am absolutely convinced that what’s going on in Gaza is a genocide, because the thing speaks for itself,” said Griffiths, in a forthcoming wide-ranging interview with Middle East Eye’s Expert Witness Podcast.

“My grandchildren will be learning in school about who did what in the worst crime of the 21st century,” he said.

He added that what’s unique about Gaza is the impunity for the well-documented atrocities over the past 21 months.

“Gaza is a place for massive impunity,” he said.

He also warned that the continued international failure to hold Israel accountable creates a precedent for other actors in different conflicts to follow suit without fear of consequences, because “Israel is getting away with terrible crimes”.

“What happens in Gaza doesn’t stay in Gaza.”

GHF ‘a lure for displacement’

Griffiths denounced the US-backed aid distribution scheme in Gaza, led by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), as a “lure for displacement”.

The GHF was launched in May with the aim of replacing the UN’s humanitarian work in Gaza and stopping aid reaching Hamas. But since then, the UN says that more than 1,000 starving Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army while seeking aid at the militarised GHF’s distribution centres in the south of Gaza.

‘No humanitarian agency in the public domain, and I know directly, would ever get away with providing aid by shoving it off the back of a truck’ – Martin Griffiths

Griffiths says the GHF undermines humanitarian action around the world.

“This is an attempt to use humanitarian delivery as a way of claiming some credit, because we’re keeping the people alive. And the argument goes, as you know, that at least we’re doing something the UN isn’t,” he said, insisting that the UN is capable of delivering aid at scale in Gaza.

He also rejected the Israeli claim that the UN’s aid gets looted by Hamas. “This was never tested by evidence or an accountable process,” he said.

Griffiths said the GHF contravenes the established principle in humanitarian work that aid should not be distributed or controlled by one side of the conflict.

“I know personally in humanitarian operations across history, whether it’s in Cambodia, Somalia, Ukraine or elsewhere, that you do not provide humanitarian aid under the auspices of one warring party, and you do not do it within a military environment.

“This ain’t humanitarian,” he said.

Griffiths added that the GHF is a means of displacing Palestinians to the south and eventually out of the country.

“It’s a lure for displacement,” he said.

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Additionally, Griffiths took aim at the GHF for failing to carry out any monitoring of where the aid goes.

“No humanitarian agency in the public domain, and I know directly, would ever get away with providing aid by shoving it off the back of a truck,” he told MEE.

“You need to continue the monitoring, third-party monitoring, to make sure that it goes to the people who you decided are the priority.”

The GHF is not equipped to monitor the destination of the aid because it does not have access across Gaza.

“This is a dereliction of humanitarian duty and responsibility, never mind principles.”

Griffiths added that the GHF should not be accepted as an aid distribution mechanism after any possible ceasefire. Otherwise, it would set a precedent for other conflicts, he said, including by the Russians in the occupied areas of Ukraine.

“This is a precedent which would be directly insisted on elsewhere.

“I did a lot of work on Ukraine. The [Russians] keep pushing back on aid from the international system to come through to the people under their administration.”

A US mercenary unloaded an entire can of pepper spray into the face of a Palestinian man picking noodles off the ground, and other contractors shot into crowds of starving people trying to collect food in Gaza, a US security contractor told Israeli media.

Those are just some of the harrowing details that a 25-year-old contractor who recently worked for a security firm guarding distribution sites for the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) shared with Israel’s Channel 12 news in an interview aired on Tuesday.

The man, whose face was blurred and voice distorted to protect his identity, said he was a US military veteran who had deployed 12 times to four different war zones, but never saw such violence carried out against unarmed civilians as that by Israeli soldiers and US mercenaries in Gaza.

“I have never in my entire military career… have I been a part of, allowed, or bystander to the use of force against unarmed innocent civilians. Ever. And I’m not going to do it now,” he said.

“There is no fixing this,” he said. “Put an end to it.”

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More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to access food in Gaza since the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

GHF distribution sites are guarded by two US security firms: Safe Reach Solutions (SRS) and UG Solutions.

SRS is run by a former high-ranking CIA officer and tied to a US private equity firm in Chicago, Middle East Eye has reported.

Both companies have come under scrutiny for the violence unfolding at aid sites where starving Palestinians are trying to collect food.

The Associated Press reported earlier this month that American contractors guarding the sites are using live ammunition and stun grenades against Palestinians.

The GHF told MEE on Thursday that while some of its aid workers had been attacked and injured en route to the sites, there have been “no incidents or fatalities at or in the immediate vicinity” of any of the sites.

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The former contractor interviewed by Channel 12 recounted similar atrocities.

“There was a man who was on the ground. He was on his hands and knees and he was picking up individual noodles,” he said.

“This guy wasn’t armed. He wasn’t a threat. This UG contractor sprayed an entire can of pepper spray on to this guy’s face. That’s lethal.”

In another case, the contractor recounted standing next to a Palestinian woman hit by a stun grenade: “She collapsed, fell to the ground. That was the moment I knew I couldn’t continue.”

The man also said that US contractors were firing live rounds at starving Palestinians. Job adverts for US mercenaries going to Gaza have called for applicants with weapons training and experience in “warfare tactics”.

“As the Palestinians were finishing getting the aid that was on the site, the UG Solutions personnel began shooting in their direction, shooting at them, shooting at their feet,” he said.

Israeli troops have admitted to deliberately shooting and killing unarmed Palestinians waiting for aid in the Gaza Strip, following direct orders from their superiors.

The US and Israeli-backed GHF was established to supplant the UN in distributing aid in Gaza. Only a trickle of food has entered the enclave, and some Palestinians, including children, are dying of hunger.

The contractor said Israeli engineers who planned the GHF sites did not appear to consider humanitarian factors or accessibility.

“If the UN method had the amount of support and security and coordination that GHF is getting, the UN process would be very successful,” he said.