https://www.scmp.com/rss/521930/feed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF): An American organisation, headquartered in Delaware, established in February 2025, operating in the Gaza Strip. Specialising in humanitarian aid logistics, GHF distributes essential supplies like food, water, and medicine to the civilian population. Backed by the US and Israeli governments, it aims to provide an alternative aid distribution model, utilising private contractors for security at its Secure Distribution Sites. While reporting millions of meals... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Over a hundred top figures from the world of entertainment signed an open letter on Saturday in support of UN Palestinian human rights expert Francesca Albanese, who faces calls to resign over comments about the war in Gaza. France and Germany have called for Albanese to step down over remarks last weekend in which she referred to a “common enemy of humanity” after criticising “most of the world” and the media for enabling Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza. Critics and Israel have accused the UN... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3343596/world-artists-back-palestine-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-despite-criticism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3343596/world-artists-back-palestine-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-despite-criticism?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Feb 2026 15:17:56 +0000 Reuters Reuters Israel demolished structures inside the UN ‍Palestinian refugee agency’s East Jerusalem compound on Tuesday after seizing the site last year, in an act condemned by the agency as a violation of international law. Surrounded by Israeli forces, bulldozers razed several large buildings and other smaller structures inside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA) compound, where ⁠dozens of agency staff once worked. UNRWA, which has been accused of bias by Israel, has not used the building... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3340566/israel-demolishes-uns-east-jerusalem-site-unprecedented-attack-defying-international-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3340566/israel-demolishes-uns-east-jerusalem-site-unprecedented-attack-defying-international-law?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:09:55 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Israel on Tuesday said it had suspended more than two dozen humanitarian organisations, including Médecins Sans Frontières and CARE, from operating in the Gaza Strip for failing to comply with new registration rules. Israel said the rules were aimed at preventing Hamas and other militant groups from infiltrating the aid organisations. But the organisations said the rules were arbitrary and warned that the new ban would harm a civilian population desperately in need of humanitarian aid. Israel... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3338204/israel-ban-medecins-sans-frontieres-aid-groups-gaza-2026-over-new-vetting-rules?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3338204/israel-ban-medecins-sans-frontieres-aid-groups-gaza-2026-over-new-vetting-rules?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Dec 2025 14:48:13 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Preparations were under way on Sunday for a ramp-up of aid entering the war-battered Gaza Strip under a new ceasefire deal that many are hoping will signal an end to the devastating two-year-long war. The Israeli defence body in charge of humanitarian aid in Gaza, Cogat, said that the amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip is expected to increase on Sunday to around 600 trucks per day, as stipulated in the agreement. Egypt said it is sending 400 trucks carrying aid into Gaza on Sunday. The trucks... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3328697/gaza-aid-increase-ceasefire-deal-brings-hope-end-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3328697/gaza-aid-increase-ceasefire-deal-brings-hope-end-war?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Oct 2025 09:17:15 +0000 Reuters Reuters A post-war plan for Gaza is circulating within US President Donald Trump’s administration that would see the United States administer the war-torn enclave for at least a decade, the relocation of Gaza’s population and its rebuilding as a tourist resort and manufacturing hub, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. The newspaper said that, according to a 38-page prospectus it had seen, Gaza’s 2 million population would at least temporarily leave either through “voluntary” departures to another... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3323838/post-war-plan-sees-us-administering-gaza-least-decade-reports?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3323838/post-war-plan-sees-us-administering-gaza-least-decade-reports?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Aug 2025 18:54:32 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press The Israeli military announced Sunday that it killed the longtime spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing, as the country’s security cabinet met to discuss the expanding offensive in some of Gaza’s most populated areas. There were no plans to discuss negotiations for a ceasefire at the meeting, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak with the media. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz identified the spokesperson as Abu Obeida, the nom de... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3323837/israel-kills-hamas-spokesman-security-cabinet-meets-discuss-expanding-gaza-offensive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3323837/israel-kills-hamas-spokesman-security-cabinet-meets-discuss-expanding-gaza-offensive?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Aug 2025 17:39:58 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press The head of the UN food agency said on Thursday that it was “very evident” during her visit to Gaza this week that there was not enough food in the Palestinian territory and that she spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the urgent need for more aid. The world’s leading authority on food crises said last week the Gaza Strip’s largest city was gripped by famine, and that it was likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3323598/un-food-agency-chief-says-women-and-children-are-starving-war-torn-gaza?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3323598/un-food-agency-chief-says-women-and-children-are-starving-war-torn-gaza?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Aug 2025 05:30:19 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinian aid-seekers travelling on Sunday through a military zone south of Gaza City that is regularly used to reach a food distribution point, a hospital and witnesses said. Gaza City is in famine after 22 months of war, while Israel’s military moves ahead with a planned offensive to seize the city, perhaps within days. Israel’s defence minister has warned that the city of hundreds of thousands of people could be destroyed. Al-Awda Hospital and two witnesses... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3322998/4-palestinians-shot-dead-israeli-forces-while-seeking-aid-near-gaza-city-witnesses-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3322998/4-palestinians-shot-dead-israeli-forces-while-seeking-aid-near-gaza-city-witnesses-say?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Aug 2025 18:02:07 +0000 dpa,Agence France-Presse dpa,Agence France-Presse A 14-year-old boy in the Gaza Strip was killed after being struck by an aid package dropped from the air, the local health authority said on Saturday. The incident occurred near the Nuseirat refugee district in central Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry said. The information could not be independently verified. Following months of blocked aid deliveries, Israel has since late last month allowed limited airdrops and, to a smaller extent, land transport into Gaza. On Friday, Palestinian officials... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3321342/gaza-war-14-year-old-palestinian-boy-dies-after-being-hit-aid-airdrop?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3321342/gaza-war-14-year-old-palestinian-boy-dies-after-being-hit-aid-airdrop?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Aug 2025 00:22:02 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Israel called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday to demand the release of its emaciated hostages, including one seen digging his own grave. Their plight drew widespread sympathy - but the 2 million Palestinians starving in Gaza got even more. Not only the Palestinians but most council members blamed the Israeli government and military for the two-month blockade of Gaza and failure to allow enough food into the conflict-wracked territory, where its health ministry has... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3320910/un-security-council-discusses-starvation-israeli-hostages-gaza-palestinians?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3320910/un-security-council-discusses-starvation-israeli-hostages-gaza-palestinians?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Aug 2025 05:34:10 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press A far-right Israeli minister visited and prayed at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Sunday, triggering regional condemnation and fears that the provocative move could further escalate tensions. The visit came as hospitals in Gaza said 33 more Palestinians seeking food aid were killed by Israeli fire. With Israel facing global criticism over famine-like conditions in the besieged strip, Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the hillside compound threatened to further set back efforts by international... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3320614/israeli-far-right-minister-prays-flashpoint-jerusalem-holy-site-sparking-condemnation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3320614/israeli-far-right-minister-prays-flashpoint-jerusalem-holy-site-sparking-condemnation?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Aug 2025 17:23:19 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Hospitals in Gaza reported the killing of more than a dozen people, eight of them food-seekers, by Israeli fire on Saturday as Palestinians endured severe risks in their search for food amid airdrops and restrictions on overland aid delivery. Near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution site, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid on Saturday morning, described a panicked scene now grimly familiar. After helping carry out three people wounded by gunshots, he said he looked around and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3320550/israel-kills-another-18-gaza-8-them-searching-food-hospitals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3320550/israel-kills-another-18-gaza-8-them-searching-food-hospitals?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Aug 2025 11:44:33 +0000 Reuters Reuters United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that a US-backed aid operation in Gaza is “inherently unsafe”, giving a blunt assessment: “It is killing people.” Israel and the United States want the UN to work through the controversial new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the UN has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarising aid and forcing displacement. Guterres said UN-led humanitarian efforts are being “strangled”, aid workers... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3316181/us-backed-gaza-aid-operation-unsafe-un-chief-says-its-killing-people?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3316181/us-backed-gaza-aid-operation-unsafe-un-chief-says-its-killing-people?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Jun 2025 20:24:09 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press An Israeli strike hit a street in central Gaza on Thursday where witnesses said a crowd of people was getting bags of flour from a Palestinian police unit that had confiscated the goods from gangs looting aid convoys. Hospital officials said 18 people were killed. The strike was the latest violence surrounding the distribution of food to Gaza’s population, which has been thrown into turmoil over the past month. After blocking all food for two-and-a-half months, Israel has allowed only a trickle... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3316000/israeli-strike-kills-18-palestinians-gaza-turmoil-mounts-over-food-distribution?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3316000/israeli-strike-kills-18-palestinians-gaza-turmoil-mounts-over-food-distribution?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Jun 2025 18:18:21 +0000