Gaza & Palestine
Director of the Government Media Office in Gaza, Ismail al-Thawabta:
▪ The campaigns to destroy food items carried out by teams from the Ministry of National Economy in the Gaza Strip come within the framework of the government duty to protect the health of citizens from consuming spoiled goods that are unfit for human consumption. ▪ We categorically deny the occupation's claims of there being a surplus of food or the absence of the famine that is striking the Strip. ▪ The occupation is trying to exploit scenes of destroying some goods to promote the idea that markets are full of food items, and this is nothing but exposed and blatant media disinformation and a desperate attempt to evade legal and moral responsibility. ▪ These false claims aim to obscure the systematic starvation policy to which more than 2.4 million Palestinians are being subjected, who lack the most basic elements of essential food security. ▪ The items being destroyed are, in essence, food shipments that were deliberately spoiled as a result of the occupation's own policies. ▪ The occupation deliberately held cargo and aid trucks for very long periods at the crossings under direct sunlight and in unhealthy conditions. ▪ The occupation's continued ban on bringing in the fuel needed to operate storage refrigerators in warehouses led to these materials rotting and expiring before they reached citizens' hands. ▪ We stress that consumer protection teams affiliated with the Ministry of Economy are carrying out their strict monitoring role to control markets and prevent any attempts to promote these spoiled goods, which could cause a health disaster and a spread of food poisoning, which would double the size of the current humanitarian and medical catastrophe. ▪ Destroying these damaged goods is further evidence of the brutality of the siege and the worsening suffering, not the opposite, as the Palestinian citizen is deprived of access to sound food while the occupation tries to falsify reality and market the illusion of abundance to justify the continued closure of crossings, the tightening of the siege, and the restriction of the entry of relief aid. ▪ We call on the international community and UN institutions not to be drawn into the occupation's false narrative and to intervene urgently to break the siege and fully open the crossings to bring in thousands of stacked trucks of sound food and medical aid to end the real and devastating famine that is ravaging the people of our nation in the Gaza Strip.
A few days after his wedding...
The young man Sobhi al-Batarihi has died from the wounds he sustained last night, as a result of an Israeli strike that targeted civilians near the Communications Junction west of Gaza City
Arab League Secretary-General: Israel’s intransigence and stalling in implementing the requirements of the Sharm El-Sheikh agreement undermines the transition from a ceasefire in Gaza to a real peace
The young man Ismail Ibrahim Darwish Qandeel (30 years old) was killed, and others were injured in the shelling of a motorcycle next to Asdaa Prison, northwest of Khan Younis.
Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza:
▪ We strongly condemn the targeting by Israeli occupation forces of Palestinian fishermen and the shooting at them while they were carrying out their work off the coast of Gaza City at dawn on Monday, which resulted in the injury of three fishermen. ▪ We affirm that this attack constitutes a flagrant violation of the right of Palestinian fishermen to work and earn their livelihood, and adds to the series of ongoing attacks to which fishermen in the Gaza Strip are subjected amid extremely difficult humanitarian and living conditions. ▪ Targeting fishermen while they are carrying out their work at sea constitutes an attack on their livelihood and a direct threat to their lives and safety, and deepens their suffering at a time when the Strip is facing an unprecedented humanitarian and economic crisis. ▪ We call on the international community and human rights and humanitarian institutions to assume their responsibilities and work seriously and urgently to stop the attacks against Palestinian fishermen, ensure their protection, and enable them to carry out their work freely and safely in accordance with what is guaranteed by international laws and conventions.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
▪ "Israel" killed more than 1,300 Palestinians in attacks on the Gaza Strip despite the ceasefire. ▪ I am horrified by the Israeli proposals to forcibly expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Injuries were reported following the targeting of a motorcycle in "al-Mukab Street" adjacent to Asdaa Prison in Mawasi Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, and the injured were transported by ambulance crews.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights::
Israel continues to restrict the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip despite the ceasefire