Nurse killed in airdrop operation in Gaza
A medical source tells Al Jazeera that one Palestinian man has been killed when an aid box dropped from the air fell in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
The victim was identified as Uday al-Quraan, a nurse at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah.
Humanitarian organisations have long warned that airdrops are dangerous.
Beyond putting lives in danger, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said last week that airdrops were a “distraction” and smokescreen, urging Israel to allow the UN and its partners to operate at scale “without bureaucratic or political hurdles”.
Humanitarian aid packages are airdropped over Gaza
Killing of healthcare worker highlights danger, unpredictability of aid airdrops
A healthcare worker at al-Aqsa Hospital has died after one of the airdropped pallets fell on his tent.
Gaza is a very small and densely populated place, and if these pallets are being dropped in Israeli-controlled areas, then it’s very difficult and dangerous for Palestinians to go and take these aid items.
It’s important to note that these airdrops are unpredictable. There is no safe place that they could be thrown, and also there is not a lot of empty land for these airdrops to happen. That’s why there are a lot of Palestinians who are being injured, or even killed.
Gaza families wait endlessly for loved ones who vanished searching for food
In addition to more than 1,300 people confirmed killed while approaching GHF-run aid distribution sites in the besieged Gaza Strip, many other aid seekers remain missing, leaving families trapped in an agonising wait.
One anguished father, Khaled Obaid, has been searching for his son Ahmed, who disappeared months ago while trying to reach the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza for aid.
“He went to bring aid to help me, his brother and sister, who lost her husband in the war,” Obaid told Al Jazeera. “He hasn’t returned.”
“He went because we are hungry. We have nothing to eat. Life has become unbearably expensive, and we have no money to meet even our basic needs,” added Obaid, who said he has reported Ahmed’s disappearance to all official bodies but has received no information.
Similarly distraught is Asmaa Khrais, whose husband, Fadhi, failed to return several weeks ago after heading to the Morag Corridor in southern Gaza in search of aid.
“He went out to get some flour,” Khrais, a mother of six, told Al Jazeera. “For nearly three weeks, we had been grinding lentils to make some food for our children. He had no choice but to go seek aid near the Morag Corridor. Since then, we’ve heard nothing from him.”
Forty-three percent of examined pregnant, breastfeeding women malnourished: Aid group
The women had sought treatment at Save the Children’s clinics in Gaza in July, according to the NGO.
It said that 323 of the 747 women the organisation had screened during the first half of July were malnourished, impacting their ability to feed their newborns, adding that mothers have been asking for stocks of infant formula to ensure their babies can be fed if they die.
The number of malnourished women was three times the number screened in March, when the government of Israel reimposed a total siege on Gaza.
“Since April, staff at Save the Children’s two primary healthcare centres operating in Gaza have reported monthly increases in the number of pregnant and breast-feeding women found to be malnourished, with food, water and fuel almost entirely unavailable,” the NGO said.
According to the Save the Children report, some malnourished mothers without breast milk reportedly give their babies water mixed with ground chickpeas or tahini.
Infant formula has not been allowed to enter Gaza due to the Israeli government-imposed siege on supplies. There are about 55,000 pregnant women in the enclave, according to the United Nations.
