We are continuing our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel closed crossings into northernGazaon Thursday, cutting the most direct route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people at risk of famine due to Israeli restrictions on food being allowed into the devastated territory.
After blocking all food for two and a half months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies intoGazasince mid-May.
As the Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke,notes in this story, the closure of theZikim crossing, which Israel claimed was necessary to stop Hamas seizing aid, was “very problematic” and would directly impact aid distribution. Here is an extract from his piece:
New food distribution points set up by a secretive US- and Israel-backed private organisation called theGaza Humanitarian Foundationare located in central and south Gaza, out of reach of most of the million people estimated to be in the north.
The Israeli government ordered the closure of the northern crossing points after footage surfaced on social media showing armed men guarding a shipment of aid.
Israeli rightwing rivals to Benjamin Netanyahuclaimed they were Hamas, but aid workers and others in Gaza said the guards were loyal to a council of local community leaders who had organised protection for a convoy of much-needed supplies.
The crossing closure came amid reports of Israeli forces killing more Palestinian people waiting for food. Gaza’s civil defence agency said 56 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday, including six who were waiting for food in two separate locations.
An Israeli airstrike yesterday hit a street in central Gaza where witnesses said a crowd of people was getting bags of flour from a Palestinian police unit that had confiscated the goods from gangs looting aid convoys. Hospital officials, according to the Associated Press, said 18 people were killed.
At least 11 Palestinian people were killed in Israeli airstrikes and drone attacks on southern Gaza this morning,according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israeli warplanes reportedly bombed a makeshift tent sheltering displaced people inal-Mawasi, a so-called humanitarian safe zone south-west ofKhan Younisin the south, while drones targeted theBani SuheilaandSheikh Nasserneighbourhoods, east of Khan Younis.
Another person, according to Wafa, was killed in a separate Israeli air raid targeting the town ofal-Qarara.We have not yet been able to independently verify these claims.
Gaza’sGovernment Media Officesaid in a press release published to Telegram on Wednesday that at least 549 Palestinian people have been killed and 4,066 others injured by Israeli forces while trying to access humanitarian supplies over the last month.
“A full month has passed since the start of work and the establishment of the so-called “American-Israeli aid centers,” which within 30 days have turned into death traps and traps for daily mass killing and luring,” it wrote in the Telegram post.
The media office said the killings occurred as desperate Palestinians tried to obtain food “amidst the policy of starvation and comprehensive siege”.
Since the blockadewas easedto the bare minimum level last month, the UN has tried to bring in aid but has faced major obstacles, including Israeli military restrictions, continuing deadly airstrikes and growing anarchy.
We are continuing our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel closed crossings into northernGazaon Thursday, cutting the most direct route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people at risk of famine due to Israeli restrictions on food being allowed into the devastated territory.
After blocking all food for two and a half months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies intoGazasince mid-May.
As the Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke,notes in this story, the closure of theZikim crossing, which Israel claimed was necessary to stop Hamas seizing aid, was “very problematic” and would directly impact aid distribution. Here is an extract from his piece:
New food distribution points set up by a secretive US- and Israel-backed private organisation called theGaza Humanitarian Foundationare located in central and south Gaza, out of reach of most of the million people estimated to be in the north.
The Israeli government ordered the closure of the northern crossing points after footage surfaced on social media showing armed men guarding a shipment of aid.
Israeli rightwing rivals to Benjamin Netanyahuclaimed they were Hamas, but aid workers and others in Gaza said the guards were loyal to a council of local community leaders who had organised protection for a convoy of much-needed supplies.
The crossing closure came amid reports of Israeli forces killing more Palestinian people waiting for food. Gaza’s civil defence agency said 56 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday, including six who were waiting for food in two separate locations.
An Israeli airstrike yesterday hit a street in central Gaza where witnesses said a crowd of people was getting bags of flour from a Palestinian police unit that had confiscated the goods from gangs looting aid convoys. Hospital officials, according to the Associated Press, said 18 people were killed.