8 h. ago Leading aid group shuts down its soup kitchens across Gaza over Israel's blockade

A leading aid group says that Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance for Gaza has forced it to shut down its community soup kitchens

Politics

11 h. ago Burn patients face excruciating recovery as medicines dwindle under Israeli blockade of Gaza

For burn patients, shortages of medicines in Gaza are particularly excruciating under Israel's blockade of the territory, now in its third month

Science

25 h. ago Children so malnourished they’re losing their sight: Inside Israel’s aid blockade on Gaza

The blockade has led to famine-like conditions for the two million people living on the Strip, and at least 9,000 children have been admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition since the start of the year

Politics

36 h. ago ‘Desperate, traumatised people’: Gaza faces wave of looting, theft and violence

Aid officials and residents report breakdown in law and order as food and supplies run out during Israeli blockadeGaza has been hit by a wave of looting and theft as increasingly desperate Palestinians struggle to get food while criminal gangs exploit a breakdown in law and order.Aid officials and witnesses in the devastated territory describe armed men attacking humanitarian warehouses, firefights over remaining food stores and a spate of stealing of supplies vital for survival, such as solar chargers, batteries, phones and cooking pots. Continue reading...

Events

47 h. ago Seize Gaza, or make it uninhabitable. That’s Netanyahu’s plan – and either way he wins | Yair Wallach

The talk of a major new offensive may be strategic bluster, but either way it serves a purpose. It shows extremist policy is now mainstreamAfter two months of daily bombings, raids and a total blockade preventing the entry of food and medication to Gaza, Israel approved a military plan on Monday it claims will bring about the final destruction of Hamas. The intensified offensive by the Israel Defense Forces will aim to occupy large parts of the strip and maintain a permanent Israeli presence there. It has been dubbed Operation Gideon’s Chariots – but it might be more accurate to call it the Roadmap to Hell. More of the population would be forced into an ever-shrinking “humanitarian zone”, while Israel explores options for their permanent displacement from the strip altogether.While Israeli officials explain that the renewed onslaught would help to release hostages, it is abundantly clear that intensifying military operations would only put them at greater risk. Hostages’ families ha...

Politics

53 h. ago ‘There is no life here’: Palestinians say Israel is imposing its Gaza endgame

As Israel’s aid blockade continues and humanitarian zones disappear, there is talk of a ‘second Nakba’ being realisedLike so many others across the Gaza Strip, Khalil al-Hakimi felt a weight lift from his shoulders for the first time in over a year when Israel and Hamas agreed a long-delayed ceasefire in January.He cried and hugged his five children tightly. “I slept deeply, free from the sound of bombing, destruction and death,” he said. Continue reading...

Politics

55 h. ago ‘There is no life here’: Palestinians fear Israel is imposing its Gaza endgame

As Israel’s aid blockade continues and humanitarian zones disappear, there is talk of a ‘second Nakba’ being realisedLike so many others across the Gaza Strip, Khalil al-Hakimi felt a weight lift from his shoulders for the first time in over a year when Israel and Hamas agreed a long-delayed ceasefire in January.He cried and hugged his five children tightly. “I slept deeply, free from the sound of bombing, destruction and death,” he said. Continue reading...

Politics

56 h. ago Israel will move Gaza's entire 2million population to 'humanitarian zone' under plan to 'conquer' the strip and hold it indefinitely

Gaza has been under total Israeli blockade since March and faces a severe humanitarian crisis, with more than 52,000 people killed since the start of the conflict, per health officials

Politics

4 d. ago AP PHOTOS: Many in Gaza face malnutrition and hunger as blockade enters its third month

Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s total blockade enters its third month. A shortage of food and supplies has driven the territory toward starvation, according to aid agencies. Supplies to treat and prevent malnutrition are depleted and quickly running out as documented cases of malnutrition rise.

Culture

4 d. ago Hunger and malnutrition are rising across Gaza as Israel's blockade leaves mothers with few options

Malnutrition and hunger are prevelant in the Gaza strip as Israel’s blockade enters its third month

Politics

5 d. ago Witnesses and aid groups report looting in Gaza after two months of Israeli blockade

Organizations in Gaza, messages circulated between security officials for aid groups seen by The Associated Press and witnesses say warehouses are being looted by Palestinians, some armed, as desperation for aid spikes after more than two months of Israel’s blockade

Politics

6 d. ago Gaza blockade: a Palestinian widow, her children and a cupboard that is almost bare

Ibtisam Ghalia and her four children are just one of the families living on brink of starvation with no sign of an end to blockadeEvery day, Ibtisam Ghalia and her four children count their remaining stocks of food. These are meagre: a kilo or so of beans, a bag of lentils, a little salt, some herbs, spices, and enough flour for half a dozen flatbreads cooked on a griddle over a fire of wood splinters, waste plastic and cardboard.In the two months since Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza, stopping food, medicine, fuel and anything else from entering the devastated territory, Ghalia’s “cupboard” has slowly diminished. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago ‘We want the fear to end’: a Palestinian widow relives the trauma of loss and struggle for survival

Ibtisam Ghalia and her four children are just one of the families and thousands living on the brink of starvation after blockade on GazaEvery day, Ibtisam Ghalia and her four children count their remaining stocks of food. These are meagre: a kilo or so of beans, a bag of lentils, a little salt, some herbs, spices, and enough flour for half a dozen flatbreads cooked on a griddle over a fire of wood splinters, waste plastic and cardboard.In the two months since Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza, stopping food, medicine, fuel and anything else from entering the devastated territory, Ghalia’s “cupboard” has slowly diminished. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Two Gazan children arrive in UK for treatment amid brutal Israel aid blockade

The Government has confirmed that two children from Gaza, whose conditions are not linked to the brutal Middle East conflict, are receiving treatment in a London hospital

Politics

1 week ago AP PHOTOS: A pregnant woman under Israel's blockade in Gaza fears for her baby

Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip has made pregnancy and childbirth more dangerous for Palestinian women and their babies. It’s become worse since Israel seven weeks ago cut off food, medicine and supplies for the territory’s more than 2 million people.

Politics

1 week ago A pregnant woman under Israel's blockade in Gaza's ruins fears for her baby

Israel’s military campaign decimating the Gaza Strip has made pregnancy and childbirth more dangerous for Palestinian women and their babies

Politics

1 week ago Gaza on brink of catastrophe as aid runs out and prices soar, groups warn

Palestinians face starvation and severe malnutrition as Israel’s blockade continues, say aid agenciesSoaring prices of basic foodstuffs, diminishing stocks of medical supplies and sharp cuts to aid distribution threaten newly catastrophic conditions across Gaza, Palestinians and international aid officials in the battered territory are warning.Humanitarian organisations including the World Food Programme and Unwra, which supplies food and services to more than 2 million Palestinians across Gaza, have now distributed the last of their stocks of flour and other foodstuffs to the dozens of community kitchens in the territory that serve basic meals to those with no other option. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Israel faces legal pressure at UN’s top court over Unrwa blockade

Hearings in The Hague over Palestinian aid agency ban mark major test of Israel’s compliance with international lawIsrael will come under sustained legal pressure this week at the UN’s top court when lawyers from more than 40 countries will claim the nation’s ban on all cooperation with the UN’s Palestinian rights agency Unrwa is a breach of the UN charter.The five days of hearings at the International court of justice in The Hague have been given a fresh urgency by Israel’s decision on 2 March to block all aid into Gaza, but the hearing will focus on whether Israel – as a signatory to the UN charter – acted unlawfully in overriding the immunities afforded to a UN body. Israel ended all contact and cooperation with Unrwa operations in Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem in November, claiming the agency had been infiltrated by Hamas, an allegation that has been contested. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago UN food agency says its foods stocks in Gaza have run out under Israel's blockade

The World Food Program says its food stocks in Gaza have run out under Israel’s nearly 8-week-old blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory

Politics

2 w. ago Despair in Gaza as Israeli aid blockade creates crisis ‘unmatched in severity’

Palestinians pushed into new misery as supplies of food, fuel and medicine run out in seven-week siegeGaza has been pushed to new depths of despair, civilians, medics and humanitarian workers say, by the unprecedented seven-week-long Israeli military blockade that has cut off all aid to the strip.The siege has left the Palestinian territory facing conditions unmatched in severity since the beginning of the war as residents grapple with sweeping new evacuation orders, the renewed bombing of civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, and the exhaustion of food, fuel for generators and medical supplies. Continue reading...

Politics