TRANSCRIPT
“It has been a very difficult weekend I think, for all of us. You have seen the videos that we put out, that... normally we are not at a loss for words, and we are spokespeople, but sometimes we have difficulty finding them. This is one of those cases. These people were shot.”
That was the spokesperson for the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs Jens Laerke.
Earlier this week, the bodies of fifteen rescue and health workers were found buried in a shallow grave in southern Gaza.
By their own admission, Israeli forces shot and killed the workers before crushing their vehicles and burying them in what's being described as a mass grave.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar says Israel believes the workers were members of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
“The IDF did not randomly attack an ambulance, on last Sunday several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals. IDF troops then opened fire at the suspected vehicles. Following an initial assessment it was determined that it eliminated Hamas military terrorist Muhammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who took part in the October 7 massacre along with eight other terrorists from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.”
The clearly identified humanitarian workers had been dispatched to collect injured people in the Rafah area when they were fired at by Israeli troops.
The body of one worker is still missing.
In the last day alone, Israel has killed at least 42 people in Gaza.
Among them was local journalist Mohammed Saleh al-Bardawil.
According to the local government media office in Gaza, his death brings the number of journalists killed by Israel's bombardment of Gaza to 209.
Spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Tommaso Della Longa says Gaza has almost run out of functional ambulances.
“The ambulances of the Palestinian Red Crescent are the ones answering to the emergency number that Palestinians can call when they need help. More than half of them now are not working and continuing like this because of lack of fuel or because they were damaged. So, if this continues, it will mean that in the next future [days] Palestinians would not have any more ambulances to save lives.”
Gaza's Civil Defence says Israel's blockade on humanitarian supplies entering Gaza has left the population once again on the verge of famine.
With no flour or diesel, bakeries across Gaza are being forced to close as the World Food Programme warns it has a maximum of two weeks left of supplies.
Director of the Bakeries Association in Gaza Abdul Nasser Al-Ajrami says access to food must not be politicized.
"The border crossings have nothing to do with the political is sues so they should not use the issue of food and drinks as a political issue. They should not bring the political issues into the humanitarian issues. These are humanitarian issues. People are not involved with what is happening. The people are victims, whether here or there. People just want the loaf of bread. We call on Trump to intervene with the Israeli side, to open the border crossings and allow the entry of necessary goods to make bread.”
Israel says the blockade is aimed at pressuring Hamas into making concessions regarding the ceasefire deal.
Israeli officials also say there is still plenty of food left in Gaza after a brief spike in aid deliveries during the ceasefire.
UN Secretary General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says that claim is ridiculous.
“As far as the U.N. is concerned, that's ridiculous. I mean, we are at the tail end of the supplies that came in through the humanitarian route. You know, WFP doesn't close its bakeries for fun. If there's no flour, if there's no cooking gas, the bakeries cannot open.”
Meanwhile at Ramon Airport in southern Israel, the Israeli Interior Ministry says hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza have been flown to Germany.
Accompanied by German diplomats, the departures follow approval from Israel’s cabinet for a new directorate tasked with advancing the voluntary departure of Palestinians.
The plan is in line with U-S President Donald Trump’s proposals to remove Palestinians from Gaza and relocate them to other countries before rebuilding.
Moshe Arbel is Israel's Interior Minister.
"I arrived here today, at Ramon Airport in Eilat, to examine and verify the voluntary departure of Gaza residents. Another flight today, and more than 10 flights departed in the previous period, today to Germany - a voluntary departure to ensure the development of the region.”
Meanwhile in the West Bank, a 17-year-old boy has become the first child to die in an Israeli prison after being held for six months without charge.
According to The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group, he is the 63rd Palestinian to die in an Israeli jail since October 2023.
Officials say Walid Ahmad collapsed and died in what have been described as unclear circumstances.
His family believes he contracted amoebic dysentery from the poor conditions in the prison, an infection that causes diarrhoea, vomiting and dizziness - and can be fatal if left untreated.
Thaer Shriteh is the spokesperson for the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainee Affairs.
“A virus has spread in Megiddo prison specifically affecting the child prisoners. This virus' symptoms are continuous vomiting, diarrhoea, and abdominal and stomach pains. Prisoner Walid Ahmed contracted this virus, according to the testimony available to us from eyewitnesses by prisoners who were with Walid. They reported that he collapsed on the ground. He had been suffering from the virus for several days, when he fell to the ground and lost consciousness. The prison administration did not respond to the requests of the minor prisoners for an intervention to save his life.”
Israel has rounded up thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, saying it suspects them of militancy.
Many have been held for months without charge or trial in what is known as administrative detention.
Walid Ahmad's family says he was a healthy teenager before he was arrested on allegations of throwing stones.
Thaer Shriteh says Israeli authorities are responsible.
"There will be an autopsy conducted in the presence of a doctor on behalf of the family of the prisoner Walid. We are awaiting for the autopsy to take place and waiting for the determination of the real causes of this crime. In the end, the Israeli occupation is fully responsible for the conditions of his martyrdom and for the health condition that he had reached. The danger in this matter is that the Israeli occupation authorities have not until this moment taken action to stop (the spread of) this virus and have not provided any treatment in general to save the minor prisoners and prisoners in general in Megiddo prison.”
In Lebanon, an Israeli strike overnight has killed four people in Beirut including Hezbollah member Hassan Bdeir.
Hezbollah denies having any role in recent rocket attacks from Lebanon towards Israel, including one that prompted Israel to carry out an air strike on the southern suburbs last Friday.
The attacks are in breach of a ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hezbollah and mark the second air strike on Beirut in five days.
The Lebanese health ministry says the strike killed four people - including a woman - and wounded seven others.
Gideon Saar says the attack killed an operative who was posing a real and immediate threat.
"We expect Lebanon to take action to uproot terrorist organisations acting within its borders against Israel. What we saw here is a cooperation between Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah on the soil of Lebanon in order to initiate terrorist attacks against Israelis.”
