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

Two children and a woman were crushed to death Friday as a crowd of Palestinians pushed to get bread at a bakery in the Gaza Strip amid a worsening food crisis in the war-ravaged territory, medical officials said.

The bodies of two girls aged 13 and 17 and the 50-year-old woman were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where a doctor confirmed that they died from suffocation due to crowding at the al-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 allowed into Gaza by Israel has fallen to nearly its lowest level of almost 14-month-long war for the past two months, according to Israeli official figures. U.N. and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of which relies on humanitarian aid to survive.

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

Palestinians across the Gaza Strip are heavily relying on bakeries and charitable kitchens, with many able to only secure 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 Hezbollah militant group.

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. Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced.

The truce was the first major sign of progress in the region since war began more than a year ago, triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 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 stretched on for nearly 14 months.

More than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million people.

Gaza is in anarchy, U.N. says

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

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

“This time I was particularly alarmed by the prevalence of hunger,” Sunghay told a media briefing in Geneva, via video-link from Amman.

“The breakdown of public order and safety is exacerbating the situation with rampant looting and fighting over scarce resources.

“The anarchy in Gaza we warned about months ago is here,” he said. “Entirely predictable, entirely foreseeable. And as with all of the death and destruction I’ve seen during my past trips to Gaza, entirely preventable.”

As the ceasfire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect Wednesday, President Joe Biden said his administration would quickly launch “another push” with international partners to secure a deal 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 ceasefire in Gaza with the [Israeli] hostages released and an end to the war without Hamas in power.”