The perilous journey for Palestinians to get food in Gaza : NPR

Published

21 hours ago

July 6, 2025

Palestinians walk back, carrying parcels collected from a food aid distribution point set up by the privately run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on the Salaheddin road, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 24, 2025.

Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

Editor’s note: Anas Baba is NPR’s producer in the Gaza Strip. His report is a rare account by a journalist inside a new food distribution site that the United States and Israel helped establish in the Palestinian territory. Some of the images in this story are graphic.

NEAR THE NETZARIM CORRIDOR, Gaza Strip — What does it take to get food today in Gaza? It involves a perilous journey that I took myself.

I faced Israeli military fire, private U.S. contractors pointing laser beams at my forehead, crowds with knives fighting for rations, and masked thieves — to get food from a group supported by the U.S. and Israel called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF.

People carry boxes of relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as displaced Palestinians return from an aid distribution center in the central Gaza Strip on May 29, 2025.

Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

Every day since the group began offering food on May 26, thousands of hungry Palestinians seeking food at these sites have been wounded and hundreds have been killed by Israeli military fire, according to Gaza health officials and international medical teams in Gaza. Many others have returned empty-handed after crowds grabbed all the food.

This is the story of what I witnessed from inside what GHF calls a “Secure Distribution Site.”

The United Nations calls the food program a “death trap.”

Why I took the risk to get food from the distribution site

Palestinians carry away sacks of food collected in the middle of the night from a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on June 24, 2025.

Anas Baba/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Anas Baba/NPR

I have lost a third of my body weight after nearly 21 months of war in Gaza.

Months of an Israeli ban on food entering Gaza, and the current strict controls on food distribution, have fueled widespread hunger. Gaza health officials have reported scores of children who died of malnutrition.

People are pale and weak. They walk on the street supporting themselves by grabbing onto walls and fences, or they walk together in groups to support each other. Women and children faint in the street.

People, some carrying aid parcels, walk along the Salah al-Din road near the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, used by food-seeking Palestinians to reach an aid distribution point set up by the privately-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

People, some carrying aid parcels, walk along the Salah al-Din road near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, used by food-seeking Palestinians to reach an aid distribution point set up by the privately run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

In recent months, I have eaten one small meal a day, rationing my own stock. Three weeks ago, I ran out of the basics — flour, lentils, cooking oil.

Street vendors sell items with skyrocketing prices I can no longer afford. Two pounds of potatoes cost around $100. I began buying watermelon peels and spoiled potatoes to pickle them.

So we had only one choice: going to get food from GHF. But since day one, we have witnessed one thing that made all of us terrified: that every single day people are getting killed when they go to pick up food from GHF sites.

But hunger is a little bit of an addiction. Once it’s controlling your own mind, you cannot think straight. Once you feel that your stomach, your brain, your body, are craving something, you will not be afraid of anything. You will do anything to get food.

That’s why on Monday evening, June 23, my cousin and I left Gaza City and walked south along the coast for hours to risk trying to get food at a GHF site in central Gaza.

Packing empty sacks and knives for the journey

A Palestinian tucks an empty sack under his belt to collect food at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food site, and carries a knife to protect from looters near the site, as hunger spreads lawlessness throughout Gaza.

Anas Baba/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Anas Baba/NPR

We packed a small backpack with water, bandages and a first aid kit. Others tuck an empty sack under their pants’ belt on one hip, and on the other, a knife, to protect themselves from looters and bandits, as hunger spreads lawlessness throughout Gaza.

Around midnight, large crowds began to gather along a wide road leading to the food site, waiting for some kind of sign that it is open. To reach the food site from that road, you have to pass through a military area near the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli military zone that during most times is a no-go zone for Palestinians. Crossing through the military zone before the food site is open draws Israeli military fire.

GHF doesn’t have fixed opening hours. It opens and closes the site often within minutes. Those who get there first get to grab the most food before it quickly runs out. Many edge to the front of the crowd before the site opens, despite the risk of Israeli soldiers perceiving them as a threat.

At 1:30 a.m. on June 24, a car raced down the road with food tied to its roof. The passengers yelled: GHF is open!

Crowds began running down the road toward the site, as cars and motorcycles raced each other. I saw people get crushed underneath cars.

The fenced entrance to a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution site in central Gaza, open in the middle of the night on June 24, 2025.

Anas Baba/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Anas Baba/NPR

The crowd dodged bullets

When we reached closer to the site, we were surprised to find an Israeli tank. It had not yet withdrawn. The crowd was wrong: the food site was not yet open.

Every single person started to retreat and run. The tank immediately opened fire. My cousin and I threw ourselves to the ground. I heard the gunshots and people screaming that were injured. Others cried out: “My brother died,” “my friend died.”

Palestinians gather at a food distribution center in central Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on June 24, 2025.

Anas Baba/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Anas Baba/NPR

By now it was 1:48 a.m. Gunfire continued. It was pitch black. And the crowds were still waiting.

At 2 a.m. the gunfire stopped. We took it as a sign that the site had opened. I ran with the crowds toward the food distribution site, stepping over bodies.

In a statement, the Israeli military said people had gathered adjacent to Israeli IDF troops. “Reports of injured individuals as a result of IDF fire in the area were received. The details are under review,” it said.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted anonymous soldiers who said they were ordered to deliberately open fire at unarmed crowds on their way to the food sites. Israeli leaders denied the allegations, which NPR has not been able to independently confirm.

A mother guards her food with a knife in each hand

The food site was finally open.

I watched hundreds of people tear down a fence surrounding the site, trampling over it to reach boxes of food sitting on wooden pallets. I grabbed my cellphone and started to document the scene.

Thousands of people — a human blender — were swirling around the food boxes, fighting each other to take as much food as possible.

A woman in her 40s, sweaty and with an angry face, held a knife in each hand, with her young son by her side. She was screaming at everyone: do not touch my son or the food.

Law and order had totally vanished. It was the law of the jungle.

Getting food in Gaza didn’t used to be a free-for-all

People queue to receive humanitarian aid, supplied by the World Food Program, in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November 18, 2024.

People queue to receive humanitarian aid, supplied by the World Food Program, in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Nov. 18, 2024.

Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

For most of the war, hundreds of aid distribution centers across Gaza would provide flour and basics. U.N. agencies would send a text message when it was your turn to pick up food, you waited hours in line, and everyone received their share.

Israel and the U.S. accused Hamas of diverting that aid, so they set up the GHF, saying it would keep Hamas away. But at the GHF site, I saw people I am certain were Hamas members, based on their dress, taking food for their families.

As I was filming, people came to me and said: look at your forehead. There were three green laser dots on my head: private armed U.S. contractors who were guarding the site were pointing their weapons at my head. One spoke through a loudspeaker, in English: “No filming allowed.”

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation defended its activities

Palestinians gather at a food distribution center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on June 24, 2025.

Anas Baba/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Anas Baba/NPR

In a detailed email, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation responded to this reporting.

It said it understood concerns that the unpredictable opening times of its food sites could expose Palestinians to Israeli gunfire while approaching the sites.

But GHF asserted that it was seeking to prevent crowd surges. The group said it had urged the Israeli military to do more to ensure safe access, and the military said it has opened new roads and created new signage.

GHF said it is impossible to screen for individuals affiliated with Hamas, but said it was preventing Hamas from controlling the flow of aid. It said it prohibits Palestinians from filming U.S. contractors at the site because they have faced online threats.

GHF went on to say that Hamas militants have killed and threatened Palestinians working with the group. Hamas militants have also killed and wounded Palestinians en route to get food at their sites, GHF said in the email to NPR.

GHF says two private U.S. contractors working at another one of its food distribution sites were injured Saturday when two people threw grenades at them.

A group of 170 human rights and aid organizations called for this food distribution system to end.

Masked thieves stole food

At the distribution site, I pushed people aside and grabbed whatever food I found tossed on the ground under torn cardboard boxes: cooking oil, biscuits, a bag of rice that had been torn open and was mixed with sand from the ground. I didn’t care. It’s food. I can wash it.

My cousin got trampled on the ground by the crowds. I helped pull him up. But the real deal is getting out of the site, protecting your bags of food while pushing past a wall of thousands of people streaming in.

Leaving the site, we were walking in the street when we were stopped by four masked thieves holding big knives. They told us we had two options: give them half of our loot, or we would be harmed.

I offered to give them one item, but not half of what we had. One started to swing his knife. My cousin and I looked at each other, and then threw two bags of food at the thieves and ran away.

We brought back food for our relatives. I was left with about a week and a half of food for myself — eating one meal a day.

Bodies shrouded in empty food bags

The hospital ran out of shrouds so they used the food bags.

At the Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, the bodies of Palestinians killed while seeking to access a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food site were covered by the same empty food sacks they had brought with them in the hopes of filling them with food, on June 24, 2025.

Anas Baba/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Anas Baba/NPR

At 4:30 that morning, I went to the hospital to a scene of screaming and blood.

Hospital officials said more than 200 people had been wounded and 26 killed outside the same food site I had visited that very day.

Others have been killed at GHF’s three other sites in Gaza — the only major food distribution sites in Gaza today for a population of around 2.1 million people.

Palestinians wounded by Israeli military fire as they walked toward a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution center are treated at the Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza on June 24, 2025.

Anas Baba/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Anas Baba/NPR

Starving families who sent their loved ones to collect some food for them were now at the hospital with their wounded loved ones seeking treatment.

With two bullets in the thighs, and another bullet in his arm, one young man was screaming in pain.

A mother, with her son, grieves over the body of her husband, who was shot by the Israeli military as he approached a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution center, at the Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza on June 24, 2025.

Anas Baba/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Anas Baba/NPR

A mother was grieving over her son, the only provider for his family, who had succeeded in snatching food from the GHF site once before — but now had returned as a dead body.

The hospital had run out of white shrouds to cover the deceased. The dead bodies lying on the hospital floor were covered by the same empty sacks — once filled with flour given out as international aid — that they had taken with them, in the hopes of filling them up with food.

Despite the daily killing and horrors for Palestinians seeking food from those sites, many still gamble with their lives to collect some food to bring back to their families — who wait for them, hungry, hoping they will return.

NPR’s Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.

Source link

Children’s camps in Texas were located in areas known to be at high risk of flooding

Published

5 hours ago

July 7, 2025

Renée Rigdon, Angela Fritz

The waterways in Texas Hill Country have carved paths over the centuries through the granite and limestone, shaping the rocky peaks and valleys that make the region so breathtaking.

When too much rain falls for the ground to absorb, it runs downhill, pulled by gravity into streams, creeks and rivers. The rain fills the waterways beyond their banks, and the excess overflows in predictable patterns that follow the terrain.

Governments and waterway managers know what will flood first and who will be threatened when a truly historic rain event takes place.

Several of the camps along the Guadalupe River and its tributaries sustained damage early July 4. Many of them are in areas known to flood.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency maintains a database of flood zones throughout the country. It maps the regulatory floodways — the places that will flood first and are most dangerous — and the areas that will flood in extreme events.

The Guadalupe River flood was a 1-in-100-year event, meaning it has about a 1% chance of happening in any given year. Extreme flooding is happening more frequently as the world warms and the atmosphere is able to hold more moisture.

Texas has already seen multiple dangerous flooding events this year, and the United States overall saw a record number of flash flood emergencies last year.

More than an entire summer’s worth of rain fell in some spots in central Texas in just a few hours early on the Fourth of July, quickly overwhelming dry soils and creating significant flash flooding. Central Texas is currently home to some of the worst drought in the United States and bone-dry soils flood very quickly.

Camp Mystic is a nondenominational Christian summer camp for girls in western Kerr County. The camp is located at a dangerous confluence of the South Fork Guadalupe River and Cypress Creek, where flood waters converged.

Camp Mystic has two sites, both of which overlap with either the floodway or areas the federal government has determined have a 1% or 0.2% annual chance of flooding.

Officials have not shared how many of the Camp Mystic girls perished in the floods. At least 10 girls and one counselor remain missing as of Sunday evening.

Ten minutes north on the South Fork is Camp La Junta, a boys camp. Some of Camp La Junta’s property also coincides with areas known to flood, though several of its buildings are located in the lower-risk zone, or outside the flood zones entirely.

Wyndham Etheridge, a 14-year-old at Camp La Junta in Hunt, Texas, told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield he woke up to people from all over the camp coming to “seek refuge” at his cabin. They stayed there, fearing the strong floodwaters could sweep them away.

As the water rose, they climbed into the loft of their cabin to escape, but it wasn’t safe, Etheridge said. “So at some point we just decided … we could go to bed for a little bit, but then we woke up again to more water,” he said.

Etheridge’s parents were among the lucky who received word that their child was safe and could be picked up. “All those boys were pretty traumatized,” said Amy Etheridge, Wyndham’s mother.

Everyone at Camp La Junta has been safe and accounted for, the camp announced Friday.

Source link

‘Love Island’s Cierra Ortega’s Parents Call For “Compassion” Amid Backlash & Villa Exit

Published

5 hours ago

July 7, 2025

Armando Tinoco

Cierra Ortega’s parents have seen the messages directed at the Love Island USA Islander and are calling for “compassion” amid the backlash and her exit from the villa.

Following Season 7, Episode 30 streaming on Peacock, Cierra’s parents released a statement on social media after it was confirmed she would no longer be part of the dating series.

“As Cierra’s parents, this has been one of the most painful weeks of our lives,” the parents said in a statement posted on Instagram. “We’ve seen the posts, the headlines, the hurt and the hate. And while Cierra hasn’t seen any of it yet, we have. And so have the people who love her.”

The statement continued, “We’re not here to justify or ignore what’s surfaced. We understand why people are upset, and we know accountability matters. But what’s happening online right now has gone far beyond that. The threats. The cruel messages. The attacks on her family, her friends, even her supporters, it’s heartbreaking. It’s uncalled for. And no one deserves that kind of hate, no matter what mistake they’ve made.”

An old social media post Cierra made resurfaced, where she references her eyes, and uses a racial slur that has been used to denigrate the Asian community. Since the post went viral, Cierra began losing thousands of followers. Before the backlash, Cierra was close to hitting 1M on Instagram, but when Love Island USA fans learned of her using the racial slur, her follower count began to drop, which stands at 683k now.

Cierra’s parents noted that she had not seen anything, as she was still sequestered pending the episode’s release.

“We know our daughter. We know her heart. And when she returns, we believe she’ll face this with honesty, growth, and grace,” the parents added. “While she’ll always be our little girl, she’s also a woman, one who will take responsibility in her own time and her own voice.”

Cierra’s parents ended the statement saying, “Until then, we’re simply asking for compassion. For patience. For basic human decency. Not just for her, but for everyone caught in the middle of this.
Thank you to those who’ve continued to show love, even when it’s not easy.”

Cierra Ortega’s parents release statement

Instagram / cierra.ortega

Source link

Cautious optimism for Gaza ceasefire breakthrough as Netanyahu visits US

Published

5 hours ago

July 7, 2025

Yolande Knell

Middle East correspondent

Reuters US President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 7, 2025 — US President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in April

After 21 months of war, there are growing hopes of a new Gaza ceasefire announcement as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US President Donald Trump in Washington.

Trump previously told reporters he had been “very firm” with Netanyahu about ending the conflict and that he thought “we’ll have a deal” this week.

“We are working to achieve the deal that has been discussed, under the conditions we have agreed,” the veteran Israeli PM said before boarding his plane. “I believe that the conversation with President Trump can definitely help advance this outcome, which we all hope for.”

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on a US-sponsored proposal for a 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal resumed in Qatar on Sunday evening.

However, it is unclear whether key differences that have consistently held up an agreement can be overcome.

Only cautious optimism is being expressed by weary Palestinians living in dire conditions amid continuing daily Israeli bombardment, and the distressed families of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.

“I don’t wish for a truce but a complete stop to all war. Frankly, I’m afraid that after 60 days the war would restart again,” says Nabil Abu Dayah, who fled from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza to Gaza City with his children and grandchildren.

“We got so tired of displacement, we got tired of thirst and hunger, from living in tents. When it comes to life’s necessities, we have zero.”

On Saturday evening, large rallies took place urging Israel’s government to seal a deal to return some 50 hostages from Gaza, up to 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

Some relatives questioned why the framework deal would not free all captives immediately.

“How does one survive under such conditions? I’m waiting for Evyatar to return and tell me himself,” said Ilay David, whose younger brother, a musician, was filmed by Hamas in torment as he watched fellow hostages being released earlier this year during the last, two-month-long ceasefire.

“This is the time to save lives. This is the time to rescue the bodies from the threat of disappearance,” Ilay told a crowd in Jerusalem.

“In the rapidly changing reality of the Middle East, this is the moment to sign a comprehensive agreement that will lead to the release of all the hostages, every single one, without exception.”

The Israeli hostages’ families are urging the US president to broker a deal that secures the release of all of those held in Gaza

AFP Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza protest outside the Israeli military's headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel (5 July 2025) — The Israeli hostages’ families are urging the US president to broker a deal that secures the release of all of those held in Gaza

Netanyahu is visiting the White House for the third time since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago.

But the leaders will be meeting for the first time since the US joined Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear sites and then brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

There is a strong sense that the recent 12-day war has created more favourable circumstances to end the Gaza war.

After months of low popularity ratings, the Israeli PM has been bolstered by broad public support for the Iran offensive and analysts suggest he now has more leverage to agree to a peace deal over the strong objections of his far-right coalition partners, who want Israel to remain in control of Gaza.

Hamas is seen to have been further weakened by the strikes on Iran – a key regional patron – meaning it could also be more amenable to making concessions needed to reach an agreement.

Meanwhile, Trump is keen to move on to other priorities in the Middle East.

These include brokering border talks between Israel and Syria, returning to efforts to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and completing unfinished business with Iran, involving possible negotiations on a new nuclear deal.

For months, ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have been deadlocked over one fundamental difference.

Israel has been ready to commit to a temporary truce to return hostages but not an end to the war. Hamas has demanded a permanent cessation of hostilities in Gaza and a full pullout of Israeli troops.

The latest proposal put to Hamas is said to include guarantees of Washington’s commitment to the deal and to continued talks to reach a lasting ceasefire and the release of all the hostages.

Nothing has been officially announced, but according to media reports the framework would see Hamas hand over 28 hostages – 10 alive and 18 dead – in five stages over 60 days without the troubling handover ceremonies it staged in the last ceasefire.

There would be a large surge in humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

After the return of the first eight living hostages on the first day of the agreement, Israeli forces would withdraw from parts of the north. After one week, the army would leave parts of the south.

On Day 10, Hamas would outline which hostages remain alive and their condition, while Israel would give details about more than 2,000 Gazans arrested during the war who remain in “administrative detention” – a practice which allows the Israeli authorities to hold them without charge or trial.

As seen before, large numbers of Palestinians would be released from Israeli jails in exchange for hostages.

The Israeli military’s chief of staff said last week that it was nearing the completion of its war goals

Reuters Israeli soldiers operate in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border (6 July 2025) — The Israeli military’s chief of staff said last week that it was nearing the completion of its war goals

President Trump has described this as the “final” truce proposal and said last week that Israel had accepted “the necessary conditions” to finalise it.

On Friday, Hamas said it had responded in a “positive spirit” but expressed some reservations.

A Palestinian official said sticking points remained over humanitarian aid – with Hamas demanding an immediate end to operations by the controversial Israeli and American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and a return to the UN and its partners overseeing all relief efforts.

Hamas is also said to be questioning the timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals and operations of the Rafah crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt.

Netanyahu’s office stated on Saturday that the changes wanted by Hamas were “not acceptable” to Israel.

The prime minister has repeatedly said that Hamas must be disarmed, a demand the Islamist group has so far refused to discuss.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is continuing to deteriorate

EPA Displaced Palestinians gather outside a charity kitchen for food, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza (30 May 2025) — The humanitarian situation in Gaza is continuing to deteriorate

In Israel, there is growing opposition to the war in Gaza, with more than 20 soldiers killed in the past month, according to the military.

The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said last week that it was nearing the completion of its war goals and signalled that the government must decide whether to move ahead with a deal to bring home hostages or prepare for Israeli forces to re-establish military rule in Gaza.

Polls indicate that two-thirds of Israelis support a ceasefire deal to bring home the hostages.

In Gaza, some residents express fears that the current wave of positivity is being manufactured to ease tensions during Netanyahu’s US trip – rationalising that this happened in May as Trump prepared to visit Arab Gulf states.

The coming days will be critical politically and in humanitarian terms.

The situation in Gaza has continued to deteriorate, with medical staff reporting acute malnutrition among children.

The UN says that with no fuel having entered in over four months, stockpiles are now virtually gone, threatening vital medical care, water supplies and telecommunications.

Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and led to 251 others being taken hostage.

Israeli attacks have since killed more than 57,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The ministry’s figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties.

Source link