Woman, 2 girls crushed to death outside Gaza bakery due to food shortage, officials say

Two children and a woman were crushed to death on Friday as a crowd of Palestinians pressed for bread at a bakery in the Gaza Strip amid a worsening food crisis in the war-torn territory, medics said.

The bodies of two girls, aged 13 and 17, and the 50-year-old woman were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, where a doctor confirmed that they died as a result of suffocation due to overcrowding on eel. -Banna bakery. Video from The Associated Press showed their bodies placed next to each other on the floor inside the hospital’s morgue.

The flow of food that Israel has allowed into Gaza has fallen to near the lowest level of the nearly 14-month war in the past two months, according to Israeli official figures. The United Nations and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of whom depend on humanitarian aid to survive.

Some bakeries in Gaza were closed for several days last week due to a lack of flour. AP footage taken last week, after they reopened, showed large crowds crowding, screaming and pushing at a bakery in Deir al-Balah.

Palestinians across the Gaza Strip rely heavily on bakeries and charity kitchens, with many able to secure only one meal a day for their families.

In Lebanon, thousands of displaced people began returning to their homes this week after a ceasefire was announced between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah.

Many found their homes reduced to rubble after intense Israeli airstrikes over the past two months leveled entire neighborhoods in eastern and southern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut. Almost 1.2 million people have been displaced.

The ceasefire was the first major sign of progress in the region since the war began more than a year ago, triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza. For Palestinians in Gaza and families of hostages held in the territory, the ceasefire marked another missed opportunity to end fighting that has lasted nearly 14 months.

More than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 injured, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israel has destroyed large parts of Gaza, displacing almost all of its 2.3 million people.

Gaza is in anarchy, says UN

The United Nations said on Friday that the Gaza Strip has descended into anarchy, with hunger soaring, looting rampant and rapes rising in shelters as public order falls apart.

Palestinians are suffering “on a scale that has to be seen to be truly understood,” Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian Territories. said in a statement after completing his latest visit to the devastated Palestinian territory.

“This time I was particularly concerned about the spread of hunger,” Sunghay told a media briefing in Geneva via video link from Amman.

“The breakdown of public order and security exacerbates the situation with rampant looting and fighting over scarce resources.

“The anarchy in Gaza we warned about months ago is here,” he said. “Totally predictable, totally predictable. And as with all the death and destruction I’ve seen on my previous trips to Gaza, it’s totally preventable.”

As the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect Wednesday, President Joe Biden said his administration would quickly start “one more push” with international partners to secure an agreement to end the war in Gaza.

Mr. Biden, who has less than two months left in office, said in a social media post Wednesday that his administration would work in the coming days with Israel and other partners in the region to “achieve a cease-fire in Gaza with the (Israeli) hostages released and an end to the war without Hamas in power.”