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U.N.’s Humanitarian Efforts in Gaza Hit “Breaking Point” Amid Israeli Attacks on Aid Workers

HeadlineJan 07, 2025

The United Nations is warning its efforts to bring humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip are at a “breaking point,” after Israeli forces opened fire on a World Food Programme convoy over the weekend. Staffers documented at least 16 bullet holes in their aid convoy’s three vehicles, saying the shooting left them “terrified.” Earlier today, an aid worker with central Gaza’s Ma’an distribution center died from injuries sustained from an attack on the flour distribution site Sunday.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry reports another day of Israeli attacks has killed at least 31 Palestinians and injured 57 others. Among the dead is neonatologist Dr. Thabat Saleem, killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Just hours before her killing, the 30-year-old Dr. Saleem had finished a volunteer shift providing care to women and children at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Meanwhile, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel reports Israel’s military is refusing to reveal the location of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the jailed director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, and won’t let his lawyers meet him. This is Palestinian nurse Mohammed al-Namnam, who was arrested alongside Dr. Safiya when Israeli forces stormed the hospital on December 27.

Mohammed al-Namnam: “We were treated violently and subjected to beatings. They don’t distinguish. There’s no mercy or any kind of humanity toward medical staff. The Israeli troops forced us to remove our clothes, and they hit us with weapons and sticks.”

We’ll have more on Gaza later in the broadcast when we speak with Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha.

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