Images of aid supplies parachuting over the Gaza Strip have become a symbol of recent events in the region. Media outlets in Muslim countries in Southeast Asia are closely monitoring the crisis, offering their own perspective to an international audience.
The Kuala Lumpur-based NAM news agency reported several key points in its August 3 report. Along with information about a joint humanitarian operation by Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Germany and France, the article included an official denial by the Israeli army of accusations of creating an artificial famine. It also noted new civilian casualties, including the death of a child from starvation in a hospital.
The UN cites alarming statistics: since May 27, 1,373 Palestinians have died while trying to get aid, 105 of them in the last two days of July. The organization's representatives state directly: "Most of these deaths are the result of the actions of the Israeli army." These data are published by the largest Brunei newspaper, the Borneo Bulletin, in an article devoted to US plans to organize food aid.
Notably, the US-based Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) effectively sidelined the UN from distributing aid just as Israel began to ease its two-month blockade. Tel Aviv accused the UN of aiding Hamas (due to the militants’ interception of humanitarian supplies), but never provided evidence to back up these claims.
Tragic incidents continue. “Israeli soldiers shoot hungry refugees as US envoy meets hostage families,” the Borneo Bulletin reports. Relatives of the 50 Israelis still held by Hamas are pushing for an urgent agreement to free them. However, the negotiation process has reached a dead end, and mass protesters in Israel are desperately calling on their government: “Stop this nightmare! Bring back our loved ones from these tunnels!”
"This is happening every day," says refugee Yahya Youssef, who witnessed yet another bloody incident near a GHF aid distribution point. He was trying to help three wounded people in the Netzarim corridor when he saw more victims of shelling. According to the UN, 859 people were killed near such points between May 27 and July 31.
The Israeli army claims it only fired warning shots into the air. But other accounts, from the GHF in Rafah, paint a different picture: eyewitnesses say the military opened fire on the crowd, killing at least two people. “I was running with everyone else and saw three people get shot – two men and a woman,” says Mohamed Abu Taha.
Israeli army officials deny the shooting, as do GHF employees. According to them, the guards used only pepper spray and warning shots. At the same time, the IDF says it is taking additional measures to ensure security in the areas it controls.
Statistics from the Gaza Ministry of Health show the scale of the tragedy: more than 60,400 Palestinians have died as a result of the Israeli offensive. Civilians predominate among the victims – women and children make up more than half of the dead. The fate of the most vulnerable is particularly alarming: during the conflict, 93 children died from the effects of hunger.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's People's Justice Party is urging caution over the Franco-Saudi initiative at the UN because it ignores Israel's long-standing violations of international law for which it must be held accountable, the New Straits Times reported.
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