Gaza Soup Kitchen chef killed in an Israeli drone attack
The relief group said Israeli forces “targeted and assassinated” its chef and co-founder, Mahmoud Almadhoun, in a drone attack in northern Gaza on Saturday.
“We believe he was killed because of his unwavering dedication to solving problems for Kamal Adwan Hospital and ensuring they had whatever they needed,” the group said, referring to the besieged medical facility in Beit Lahiya.
“Mahmoud was a lifeline, standing in the way of the ethnic cleansing they are determined to carry out—and they would not allow that to continue,” the group added.
Israeli forces have been laying siege to northern Gaza since October 6, preventing the entry of food, water and medicine, and bombarding the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in a campaign rights groups say is aimed at clearing the area of all of its residents.
Gaza Soup Kitchen said Mahmoud leaves behind seven children, including a two-week-old baby.
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UN food agency calls for ‘improved security’ for Gaza aid operations
The World Food Programme (WFP) made the appeal after two girls and a woman died in a stampede outside a bakery in central Deir el-Balah on Friday.
The agency said it mourned the “tragic loss” and that “this incident unfolded in a moment of desperation as people anxiously tried to get access to scarce food supplies in Gaza”.
The agency said Israel’s refusal to allow the entry of aid as well as increasing violence on the ground has restricted its ability to bring food into Gaza in recent weeks.
“WFP has tried to keep famine at bay for the past year, but the lack of food aid and the absence of the commercial sector, are driving people into hunger,” it said. “WFP urges authorities to provide the secure conditions needed for our operations to reach those in need.”
Israeli attacks on aid workers, food operations in Gaza
There have been a number of deadly Israeli attacks on aid operations and workers in Gaza in the past 24 hours. They are:
- Twelve people were killed while waiting for food aid in southern Khan Younis.
- Three workers from the World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli attack on Khan Younis in the third attack on the US-based aid group this year.
- An Israeli air attack killed Save the Children staff member Ahmad Faisal Isleem Al-Qadi, 39, as he was returning from his mosque in Khan Younis.
- Gaza Soup Kitchen chef Mahmoud Almadhoun was killed in an Israeli drone attack in northern Gaza.
Palestinian Health Ministry says Gaza facing a ‘shortage’ of medical staff
Director of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr Munir al-Bursh, told Al Jazeera that northern Gaza and Gaza City are suffering from a shortage of medical staff amid intense Israeli attacks and an ongoing siege.
Al-Bursh explained that many injured people have died in the streets due to a lack of medical supplies, adding that more than 10,000 people are wounded in the Gaza Strip.
“The [Israeli] occupation uses internationally prohibited weapons, and there are testimonies of some bodies being evaporated. There were types of burns we had never seen before and entire bodies were vaporised,” he said.
Al-Bursh added that an international investigation was needed into the type of weapons used by Israel following cases in northern Gaza where bodies “evaporated” during an Israeli campaign of “ethnic cleansing and mass killings”.
