Gaza’s Civil Defence agency rejects Israeli ‘smear campaign’
Gaza’s emergency service has condemned Israel for targeting its humanitarian mission and specifically spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal.
“We categorically reject the Israeli incitement against the Civil Defence and its spokesperson, and we warn of the dangerous objectives behind it,” a statement said.
The agency said the Israeli army began sending messages to international media outlets accusing Bassal of ties to Palestinian armed groups and urging them to disregard his press statements about rescue efforts in Gaza.
It described the move as a deliberate effort to undermine the agency’s credibility and silence reporting on the humanitarian disaster in the war-battered territory.
The rescue agency stressed it’s an independent, nonpolitical humanitarian body and accused Israel of trying to distract attention from its war crimes. It called on international organisations and press freedom advocates to reject Israeli propaganda.
A rescue worker looks for survivors in Khan Younis after an Israeli attack
Hamas calls for probe into Israeli aid centre ‘crimes’
The Palestinian group has called for an independent international investigation into “systematic Israeli crimes” in Gaza, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders must be prosecuted.
In a statement, Hamas demanded an end to “suspicious military-run aid distribution centres” and called for the UN to be the sole “legitimate and neutral channels” for delivering humanitarian relief.
The UN Security Council and the international community must take urgent action to “stop the genocide and lift the siege” on Gaza, where famine looms, it said.
The statement comes as Israeli forces continue to open fire and kill hungry Palestinians while they try to collect food from the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution centres.
UN: Gaza families hanging by a thread as ‘children go to bed hungry’
The United Nations has issued a stark warning about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying families are “hanging on by a thread” as “children go to bed hungry” each night.
In a post on X, the UN added “the aid reaching Gaza remains critically insufficient”.
“The unimpeded entry of assistance at scale to meet the enormous needs must be restored immediately,” it said.
The warning comes just weeks after the release of the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, which found Gaza’s entire population is facing a critical risk of famine.
