Aid agencies decry ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ in Gaza as Jordan hosts emergency summit

Displaced Palestinian children line up to receive food in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 19, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 11 June 2024
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Aid agencies decry ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ in Gaza as Jordan hosts emergency summit

  • Israeli bombardment and closure of border crossings have compounded disaster, say aid workers 
  • Dead Sea conference aims to bolster the international community’s collective, coordinated response

DUBAI: Eight months after the war in Gaza began, the Palestinian population is in the grips of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, deprived of sufficient food, water, shelter, sanitation and health services while under constant Israeli bombardment.

Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 36,654 Palestinians and injured 83,309 since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The UN’s World Food Programme describes the situation in northern Gaza as a “full-blown famine.”

In response to the deepening crisis, Jordan is hosting an emergency international conference today to assess the humanitarian response. The event, at the King Hussein bin Talal Convention Center near the Dead Sea, is co-hosted by Egypt and the UN.

Jordan’s Royal Court said the aim of the meeting is “to identify ways to bolster the international community’s response to the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip” and seek “commitment for a collective coordinated response to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”




A man, woman, and children ride in the back of a tricycle loaded with belongings and other items as they flee bound for Khan Yunis, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 11, 2024. (AFP)

The crisis has dramatically worsened since the start of the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah on May 6, Guillemette Thomas, the Medecins Sans Frontieres medical coordinator for Palestine, told Arab News.

She described conditions in Gaza as “catastrophic,” as she outlined the immense challenges international aid agencies face in distributing food, water, fuel and medical supplies to the population.

“Since the ground operations started, we’ve seen almost 1 million people leaving the area, and moving from one place to another with very few things, living already in dire conditions,” Thomas said.

The majority of the people who had been sheltering in Rafah, having already been displaced from elsewhere in Gaza, have now been forced to evacuate to Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis, where there are no facilities in place to support them.




Palestinians flee with their belongings as smoke rises in the background, in the area of Tel Al-Sultan in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 30, 2024. (AFP)

“Intensified hostilities and military operations in Rafah have so far forced the displacement of approximately 1 million people,” a UN spokesperson told Arab News. “This has deepened the humanitarian crisis and significantly destabilized humanitarian aid. 

“Less than 100,000 people are estimated to have remained in Rafah governorate. At present, there are no functioning hospitals and no functioning bakeries inside Rafah. According to UNICEF, nine of every ten children in Gaza are experiencing severe food poverty, surviving on two or fewer food groups per day. 

“Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis, where almost a million people have fled, are very crowded; people face dire shortages of food, clean water, medical supplies and healthcare services. Partners are currently providing hot meals in the area. 

“In northern Gaza, aid, primarily food, that has arrived via the northern crossings since May 1 has provided some relief, but lack of access to clean water, nutritious foods, health care and sanitation continue to devastate the area.”




A UN spokesperson said that intensified hostilities and military operations in Rafah have so far forced the displacement of approximately 1 million people. (AFP)

Gazan authorities have said about 3,500 children are at imminent risk of starvation because of severe shortages of milk, food, nutritional supplements and vaccines. Females are considered especially vulnerable.

“When it comes to women and girls, they are living in terrible conditions,” said Thomas. “There is no privacy, no hygiene and no access to basic necessities like showers or toilets.”

She said pregnant women are in an impossible situation, unable to give birth in humane conditions because of limited access to health facilities, which are overwhelmed by the scale of needs and a lack of supplies.

In the past eight months, at least 20,000 women have given birth in Gaza under extremely challenging conditions, said Dr. Hafeez ur Rahman of the nongovernmental organization Alkhidmat Foundation Pakistan.

“These newborn babies are also at high risk of malnutrition because their mothers do not intake enough nutrients in order to be able to feed them,” he told Arab News.

Rahman said most relief operations have been halted, including the provision of hot meals and clean drinking water, because of the ongoing fighting.




According to UNICEF, nine of every ten children in Gaza are experiencing severe food poverty, surviving on two or fewer food groups per day. (AFP)

Thomas said she fears the closure last month of the Rafah border crossing, through which much of the aid provided to Gazans had been arriving via Egypt, and restrictions placed on aid trucks at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, could make matters even worse. Kerem Shalom, which had been closed for several weeks, recently reopened but strict Israeli security checks remain in place.

“The number of trucks that used to enter before the closure was about 150 trucks per day,” said Thomas. “This is the number of trucks entering Kerem Shalom per week, now.”

The World Food Programme said that ongoing attacks have blocked access to its main warehouse in Rafah, and the quantity of aid entering Gaza fell by 67 percent to a daily average of 58 trucks between May 7 and May 28. The UN previously reported that 500 aid trucks entered Gaza each day on average in the months before Oct. 7.

“The incursion into Rafah has further choked off aid entering Gaza,” the spokesperson for the UN told Arab News. “The closure of Rafah has also reduced fuel supplies, affecting trucks, hospitals, sewage systems, desalination operations and bakeries.

“We need meaningful reassurances that our convoys and our facilities are not targeted. This means ensuring that the movement of aid movements within Gaza, including through checkpoints, is predictable and expedited. 

“It also means all roads are operational because land routes are the most viable, effective and efficient aid delivery method for the passage of life-saving humanitarian assistance and fuel into Gaza.”

While Israeli officials have insisted there is no limit on the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, the UN has accused authorities of imposing “unlawful restrictions” on relief operations, including blocked land routes, communications blackouts and air strikes.

According to Thomas, the biggest challenges currently facing Medecins Sans Frontieres in Gaza are gaining access to the population and having the means to safely distribute the limited supplies of hygiene kits, medications and food.

“Insecurity in Kerem Shalom and around the border is making our work extremely difficult as it is difficult to get the supplies across the border safely, to reach the warehouse safely, and then to be distributed to the population,” she said.

Because supplies are so limited, food prices have surged. There has also been an increase in reports of looting of the few aid trucks permitted to enter in recent weeks.

“For many people, they are just totally desperate,” Thomas said. “They have no food, hey have nothing, and at some point you just need to survive and get food for your kids.”




The World Food Programme said that the quantity of aid entering Gaza fell by 67 percent to a daily average of 58 trucks between May 7 and May 28. (AFP)

Since the closure of the Rafah crossing, aid agencies have been exploring other access routes. At the Western Erez crossing in Zikim, approximately 50 to 60 trucks are now able to enter the territory each day. While this remains insufficient, it is providing some relief to the population.

“Recently, a new route has been used by these NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) to deliver aid to Gaza, which starts from Jordan and goes through Israel and the West Bank,” said Rahman, whose Alkhidmat Foundation Pakistan has used this route to deliver aid in partnership with the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization.

However, all of these routes are fully controlled by Israeli forces and every consignment is subject to approval by authorities, aid officials say, adding that as a result, truckloads of humanitarian relief have been left queuing at the border, unable to enter.

“There is a dire need to create pressure on Israel by the neighboring countries and the UN,” said Rahman. “The upcoming conference could prove to be beneficial for convincing the international community and Israel to allow aid into Gaza.”




Humanitarian aid dropped on Khan Yunis falls near tents sheltering Palestinians displaced by conflict in the southern Gaza Strip on June 4, 2024. (AFP)

Meanwhile, the few hospitals still functioning have been completely overwhelmed by the number of wounded and the lack of basic medical supplies they need to treat casualties.

An Israeli hostage-rescue operation on Saturday in the Nuseirat refugee camp and areas around Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah resulted in more than 200 deaths and at least 400 injuries, according to Gaza health officials.

“Within the last few days, we have been receiving many mass-casualty incidents in Al-Aqsa Hospital, where more than 300 wounded patients arrived in 24 hours,” said Thomas. “Seventy of them were dead on arrival due to the bombing and the shelling in crowded areas.”

The majority of the casualties were women and children, many of whom suffered burns covering more than 40 percent of their bodies. Others sustained complex fractures and required traumatic amputations, she added.

“Unfortunately, many of them will die following these kinds of injuries because we are simply unable to provide the necessary care for them,” said Thomas.

“When it comes to supplies, the level of violence is extremely high and the entry of medical supplies has almost stopped, which leaves us in a very critical situation now.”




The few hospitals still functioning have been completely overwhelmed by the number of wounded and the lack of basic medical supplies they need to treat casualties. (AFP)

Thomas said only three hospitals are still functioning in southern Gaza: Nasser Hospital, Gaza European Hospital, and Al-Aqsa Hospital. A few field hospitals have been set up in Al-Mawasi and other areas, managed by NGOs such as UK-MED and International Medical Corps.

“It is very important to understand that we cannot replace a hospital with a field hospital,” said Thomas. “We are doing what we can in these kinds of facilities but it is really not enough.”

The conditions for patients in field hospitals are far from ideal, she explained, adding: “They are under tents, it’s extremely hot and it’s unsafe. Any shrapnel that enters the hospital area leaves everyone unprotected. It’s not safe for the patients or the health workers.”




Palestinians walk on a ravaged road in front of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 2, 2024. (AFP)

Doctors are also witnessing a rise in diseases that were unseen before the war, including numerous cases of acute diarrhea leading to dehydration, and skin diseases resulting from poor hygiene.

“Many diseases we’re seeing at primary health centers are directly related to living conditions: the lack of access to clean water, proper shelter and basic sanitation systems,” said Thomas.

“We need a ceasefire, we need this war to end. There is no other solution to be able to help this population. We need full access to the population. This is the message we want to send today.”

 


Turkish court postpones hearing over hotel fire

Updated 23 min 45 sec ago
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Turkish court postpones hearing over hotel fire

  • The court is considering allegations that poor safety measures at the hotel contributed to the disaster
  • The different organizations under scrutiny denied responsibility

ISTANBUL: A Turkish court on Thursday adjourned the trial of 32 people over a fire January at a luxury ski resort hotel that killed 78 people, after 10 days of harrowing testimony.

Since the trial opened on July 7, survivors, many of them in tears, have told the court how they escaped the deadly blaze, whose victims included 36 children.

The fire swept through the Grand Kartal Hotel in the northern mountain resort of Kartalkaya on January 21.

As well as the 78 people killed in the fire, another 130 people were injured.

The court is considering allegations that poor safety measures at the hotel contributed to the disaster.

Among the defendants facing manslaughter charges are the hotel’s owner, managers, the deputy mayor of Bolu city and two fire department officials.

“Everyone including the employees and bosses lied in their initial statements,” said Yusuf Yaman, the private DHA news agency reported. Yaman lost his daughter and grand-daughter in the fire.

“We lost 78 lives. They’re all my children. If they (the suspects) had shown courage, if they had confessed everything, they would have had a clearer conscience,” he added.

After the fire, the different organizations under scrutiny denied responsibility, the tourism ministry and the local municipality run by the main opposition CHP party blaming each other.

At the end of the 10-day hearing, the hotel’s director and owner Emir Aras expressed regret. He told the judge he did not want to be released from detention, DHA reported.

The court postponed the hearing to September 22.


Jordan treats dozens of injured Palestinians from Gaza, sends more aid to territory

Updated 17 July 2025
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Jordan treats dozens of injured Palestinians from Gaza, sends more aid to territory

  • Jordanian Medical Corridor initiative aims to assist Palestinians in Gaza and is carried out in cooperation with the Jordanian armed forces, Ministry of Health, and the World Health Organization
  • Since the initiative began in March, 112 injured and sick children, accompanied by 241 carers, have entered Jordan to receive treatment in private hospitals

LONDON: Jordanian associations dispatched 50 aid trucks to the Gaza Strip on Thursday and transferred dozens of Palestinian children to receive medical treatment in Jordan this week.

Dr. Fawzi Al-Hammouri, chairman of the Private Hospitals Association, confirmed that 35 sick and injured children from Gaza, accompanied by 72 carers, were admitted to several private hospitals in Jordan.

The initiative, part of the Jordanian Medical Corridor, aims to assist Palestinians in Gaza and is carried out in cooperation with the Jordanian armed forces, the Ministry of Health, and the World Health Organization.

Since the initiative began in March, 112 injured and sick children, accompanied by 241 guardians, have entered Jordan to receive treatment in private hospitals, according to Dr. Al-Hammouri.

On Thursday, the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization sent another humanitarian convoy of 50 trucks loaded with essential food supplies to the northern part of the Gaza coastal enclave. Northern Gaza is experiencing severe shortages of food and essential supplies due to disruptions in aid delivery and Israeli attacks.

Since late 2023, Jordan has delivered more than 7,815 aid trucks and 53 cargo planes through the Egyptian port of Arish, along with 102 helicopter sorties to deliver aid, to support Palestinians in Gaza.

Jordan was among the first countries to conduct airlift missions in the early days of the war, delivering relief to Gaza. More than 58,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, which have been described as genocide by human rights groups and several heads of state.


Qatar to strengthen tourism partnership with Jordan, delegation visits Amman Citadel

Updated 17 July 2025
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Qatar to strengthen tourism partnership with Jordan, delegation visits Amman Citadel

  • Talks underway for launch of joint promotional campaigns and sharing of expertise in sustainable tourism marketing
  • Central Bank of Jordan reports 11.9% increase in tourism revenues during first half of 2025 to $3.67bn, despite drop in visitors to Petra in June due to regional conflicts

LONDON: Saad Al-Kharji, the chairperson of Qatar Tourism, visited the historical site of Amman Citadel, accompanied by the Jordanian minister of tourism and antiquities, Lina Annab, as officials from the two countries met to discuss enhanced cooperation in the tourism sector.

The Qatari delegation toured several key landmarks on Wednesday and learned about Jordan’s rich cultural history as part of a visit described as an essential step as officials work to develop joint promotional campaigns and share expertise in the marketing of sustainable tourism, the Jordan News Agency reported.

The Jordanian ministry said the diverse tourism options in Jordan and Qatar provide the foundations for fostering a partnership that can enrich visitor experiences and attract foreign travelers.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Jordan reported an 11.9 percent increase in tourism revenues to $3.67 billion during the first half of 2025 compared with the same period last year.

This was despite a previously reported decline of more than 75 percent in the number of foreign visitors to Petra, the country’s main tourist attraction, in June compared with the same month in recent years due to the ongoing war in Gaza and the conflict between Iran and Israel.


British surgeon in Gaza describes wounded Palestinians dying due to malnutrition 

Updated 17 July 2025
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British surgeon in Gaza describes wounded Palestinians dying due to malnutrition 

  • Professor Nick Maynard moved to tears by malnourished state of Palestinian babies at Nasser Hospital
  • Even Palestinian hospital colleagues look shadow of former selves due to Israel’s aid blockade

LONDON: Palestinians being treated in one of Gaza’s few remaining hospitals are dying from their wounds because they are so malnourished, a British doctor working in the territory said.

Professor Nick Maynard, a consultant gastrointestinal surgeon, who is on his third stint volunteering in the territory since the war started, said he is seeing unprecedented levels of severe malnutrition.

“The malnutrition I’m seeing here is indescribably bad. It’s much, much worse now than a year ago,” Maynard, who is based at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, said.

UNICEF chief Catherine Russell told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that acute malnutrition among children in Gaza had almost tripled after Israel imposed an 11-week blockade on food aid to the territory in March.

 

 

Maynard said malnutrition levels were directly contributing to preventable deaths among patients receiving surgery. He said those injured in Israel’s military attacks were dying because being malnourished prevents proper healing.

“The repairs that we carry out fall to pieces; patients get terrible infections and they die,” Maynard, who is volunteering with Medical Aid for Palestinians, said. “I have had so many patients die because they can’t get enough food to recover, it’s distressing to see that and know that it is preventable and treatable.”

Maynard said babies in Nasser’s neonatal unit have been particularly affected, with four recent infant deaths blamed on malnutrition.

The surgeon said he had been reduced to tears by the state of the children he has seen. 

“I saw a seven-month-old who looked like a newborn,” Maynard said. “The expression ‘skin and bones’ doesn’t do it justice. We have almost no liquid or intravenous feeds — children are being given essentially 10 percent sugar water, which is not proper nutritional support.”

Maynard said he had even seen the effects of malnutrition in his Palestinian colleagues, who were barely recognizable from when he had worked with them a year ago. He said many had lost 20-30kg due to the food shortages.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza lead to widespread warnings that the territory could descend into a state of famine.

Surgeon Nick Maynard is on his third visit to Gaza since the war started. He said the levels of severe malnutrition are unprecedented. (MAP)

In her briefing to the security council, UNICEF’s Russell said that of the more than 113,000 children screened for malnutrition in June, almost 6,000 were found to be acutely malnourished — an 180 percent increase in acute malnutrition cases compared to February.

“Children in Gaza are enduring catastrophic living conditions, including severe food insecurity and malnutrition,” she said. 

Maynard, who is usually based at Oxford University Hospital, has been traveling to volunteer in Gaza with MAP for more than 10 years.

While on his current posting, he has witnessed the daily arrival of Palestinians who have been shot while trying to access food aid through distribution hubs set up by the new Israeli- and US-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

“We have hundreds of trauma casualties coming in every day, it’s relentless,” he said. “This is not only from Israeli military airstrikes and attacks, but we are also treating multiple gunshot wounds every day.

“These are mainly from the militarized distribution points, where starving civilians are going to try and get food but then report getting targeted by Israeli soldiers or quadcopters.”

The surgeon said he had mostly been operating on boys aged 12 or 13 who had been sent to the aid hubs to get food for their families.

“A 12-year-old boy I was operating on died from his injuries on the operating table — he had been shot through the chest.”

Maynard called on the international community to force Israel to allow the full flow of food and aid into Gaza, and to end the “collective punishment” of the territory’s population.

“The enforced malnutrition and attacks on civilians we are witnessing will kill many more thousands of people if not stopped,” he said.


Palestinian man dies in Israeli jail a week after his arrest

Updated 17 July 2025
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Palestinian man dies in Israeli jail a week after his arrest

  • Samir Mohammad Yousef Al-Rifai, 53, is the 74th Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli custody since October 2023
  • Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy groups say his death constitutes a new crime of Israeli brutality against prisoners and ongoing genocide

LONDON: A 53-year-old Palestinian prisoner died in an Israeli jail after nearly a week following his arrest in Rummana, near Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Detainees’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society announced on Thursday the death of Samir Mohammad Yousef Al-Rifai. He is the 74th Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli custody since October 2023 and the 311th since Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian Territories began in 1967.

Al-Rifai, a father of five, was arrested by Israeli occupation forces at his home in Rummana on July 10. According to the Wafa news agency, he had pre-existing heart problems and required intensive medical follow-up. He was scheduled to have his first hearing in the Salem Military Court on Thursday.

The commission and the PPS reported that Palestinian prisoners face systematic crimes, including torture, starvation, medical abuses, sexual assaults, and harsh conditions in Israeli prisons, which lead to the outbreak of diseases like scabies.

The death of Al-Rifai “constitutes a new crime added to the record of Israeli brutality, which commits all forms of crimes aimed at killing prisoners. This is another aspect of the ongoing genocide, and an extension of it,” they added.

More than 10,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, the highest prisoner count since the Second Intifada in 2000, Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy groups reported last week.

As of early July, some 10,800 prisoners are said to be held in Israeli detention centers and prisons, including 50 women — two of whom are from the Gaza Strip — and over 450 children.

Since the 1967 occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, over 800,000 Palestinians have spent time in Israeli jails, according to a UN report in 2023.