UNRWA Accuses Israel of Starving Civilians in Gaza, Including 1 Mn Children
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has issued a stark warning, accusing Israeli authorities of deliberately starving civilians in the Gaza Strip, including over one million children.
According to Al-Qahera News, UNRWA said that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels, blaming Israeli-imposed restrictions and the ongoing blockade for preventing access to vital food, water, and medical supplies.
'Israeli authorities are starving civilians in Gaza. Among them are one million children,' the agency said, highlighting the devastating impact of months of conflict and siege on the enclave's most vulnerable population.
The allegation comes amid mounting international concern over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where health services have collapsed and food insecurity has become widespread. Aid agencies have repeatedly warned of the risk of famine and the urgent need for sustained humanitarian access.
Israeli officials have not yet responded to the latest accusation, but have previously maintained that aid deliveries are allowed through secure crossings and that Hamas is to blame for obstructing humanitarian efforts.
UNRWA and other international organizations continue to call for an immediate ceasefire and full access to deliver aid, warning that without urgent intervention, the situation could spiral into mass starvation and disease outbreaks.
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Al-Ahram Weekly
23 minutes ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
UPDATED: Starvation spreads in Gaza as European powers discuss ending the catastrophe - War on Gaza
Aid groups warned of surging numbers of malnourished children in war-ravaged Gaza as a trio of European powers prepared to hold an "emergency call" Friday on the deepening humanitarian crisis. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that a quarter of the young children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers it had screened at its clinics last week were malnourished, a day after the United Nations said one in five children in Gaza City were suffering from malnutrition. With fears of mass starvation growing, Britain, France and Germany were set to hold an emergency call to push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and discuss steps towards Palestinian statehood. "I will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow, where we will discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need while pulling together all the steps necessary to build a lasting peace," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. The UK is facing renewed pressure to recognise the state of Palestine after French President Emmanuel Macron pledged France would do so by September, prompting fresh calls for Britain to act. Demands for immediate recognition had already been building across Westminster and are expected to intensify following the French announcement, according to the BBC. A report published Friday by the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee also urged the government to recognise Palestinian statehood without delay. Labour figures have voiced support for recognition, while the Liberal Democrats warned the UK should not fall behind its European allies on the issue. Downing Street, however, continues to insist a ceasefire must come first, with ministers maintaining that sovereignty must be 'exercised at the moment of attaining statehood'. "The UK has missed multiple opportunities to act decisively in the past. We must not let another opportunity pass us by," wrote Emily Thornberry, the Chair of the UK's Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament, urging her government to recognise the State of Palestine. We have published our report on the Israel-Palestine conflict. We have spent the last nine months taking evidence on the conflict. Today, we are calling on the Government to act more boldly and bravely to deliver a two-state solution. Read the report ⬇️ — Foreign Affairs Committee (@CommonsForeign) July 25, 2025 Israel/US quit The call between European leaders comes after hopes of a new ceasefire in Gaza faded on Thursday when Israel and the United States quit indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar. US envoy Steve Witkoff accused the Palestinian militant group of not "acting in good faith". President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France would formally recognise a Palestinian state in September, drawing a furious rebuke from Israel. Displaced Palestinians try to take what remains in a pot of lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on July 25, 2025. AFP 'Mass starvation' More than 100 aid and human rights groups warned this week that "mass starvation" was spreading in Gaza. Israel has rejected accusations it is responsible for the deepening crisis, which the World Health Organization has called "man-made". Israel placed the Gaza Strip under an aid blockade in March, which it only partially eased two months later. The trickle of aid since then has been controlled by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, replacing the longstanding UN-led distribution system. Aid groups have refused to work with it, accusing it of aiding Israeli military goals. The GHF system, in which Gazans have to travel long distances and join huge queues to reach one of four sites, has often proved deadly, with the UN saying that more than 750 Palestinian aid-seekers have been killed by Israeli forces near GHF centres since late May. An AFP photographer saw bloodied patients, wounded while attempting to get humanitarian aid, being treated on the floor of Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis on Thursday. Accusing Israel of the "weaponisation of food", MSF said that: "Across screenings of children aged six months to five years old and pregnant and breastfeeding women, at MSF facilities last week, 25 per cent were malnourished." It said malnutrition cases had quadrupled since May 18 at its Gaza City clinic and that the facility was enrolling 25 new patients every day. Aid groups and medics have also warned that a lack of food is preventing the sick and wounded from recovering. US Representative Wesley Bell, whose primary race saw heavy influence from pro-Israel groups, has condemned Israel's starvation of civilians in Gaza and the attacks on aid seekers searching for food, stating, 'This is not self-defense. It must stop.' — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 25, 2025 'High risk of dying' On Thursday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said that one in five children in Gaza City were malnourished. Agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said: "Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying if they don't get the treatment they urgently need." He also warned that "UNRWA frontline health workers, are surviving on one small meal a day, often just lentils, if at all". EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / People mourn a relative at the Nasser hospital, one of several Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on the al-Mawasi refugee camp and the eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 24, 2025. (Photo by AFP) Lazzarini said that the agency had "the equivalent of 6,000 loaded trucks of food and medical supplies" ready to send into Gaza if Israel allowed "unrestricted and uninterrupted" access to the territory. Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 59,587 Palestinians and wounded nearly 150,000, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Gaza.. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
2 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Egypt welcomes Macron's announcement of intent to recognise Palestinian state - Foreign Affairs
Egypt welcomed on Friday French President Emmanuel Macron's recent announcement of his country's intention to recognise the State of Palestine. According to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Egypt also expressed its deep appreciation for what it described as a significant and historic step. The ministry commended Macron's step, describing it as supporting international efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state based on the 4 June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Cairo further called on all countries that have not yet taken this step to recognise a Palestinian state, affirming the international community's commitment to reaching a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian cause. "This recognition contributes to upholding the principles of peace and justice and supports the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the right to self-determination," the ministry said. Furthermore, Egypt emphasised the importance of regional and international efforts to end the humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people. The foreign ministry underscored the moral and legal responsibility of all members of the international community and the UN Security Council to intervene to halt the practices, crimes, and starvation policies carried out by the Israeli forces in the Palestinian territories. "Such action is imperative to safeguarding regional and international peace and security," the ministry said in the statement. On Thursday, the French president announced that his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly in September. "True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine. I will make a formal announcement at the UN General Assembly in September," Macron wrote on X. The French president emphasised the need to establish a Palestinian State finally and to ensure and enable its viability through demilitarisation and fully recognising Israel to the security of all in the Middle East. According to AFP, at least 142 countries out of the 193 UN members now either recognise or intend to recognise a Palestinian state. Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza, several European countries such as Norway, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia have officially recognised Palestinian statehood, with other nations signalling they may follow suit. Macron's historic move — which positions France as the most powerful European nation to recognise a Palestinian state — was widely welcomed around the world from several countries, while drawing an immediate and sharp reaction from Israel. Since October 2023, Israeli brutal aggression on Gaza has left nearly 60,000 Palestinians killed, and around 150,000 others injured, most of them women and children. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
2 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Gulf countries welcome France recognition of Palestinian state - War on Gaza
Saudi Arabia and fellow Gulf Arab states on Friday welcomed President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that France would recognise the state of Palestine, and urged other countries to follow suit. Other European Union members have recognised Palestine since Israel's genocidal war on Gaza erupted in October 2023 but France is the first member of the G7 group of major advanced economies to do so. The Saudi foreign ministry said "the kingdom commends this historic decision, which reaffirms the international community's consensus on the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and to establish their independent state". It called on other countries "that have not yet recognised the State of Palestine to take similar positive steps". Macron said on Thursday that France would formally recognise a Palestinian state during a United Nations meeting in September. A ministerial-level meeting co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia to discuss a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is planned for later this month. Qatar, a key mediator in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on ending the Gaza war, also welcomed the French move. Its foreign ministry said the move "constitutes significant support for the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people" and "contributes to advancing prospects for achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region". The Kuwaiti foreign ministry said it "commended this significant step". The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) -- which also includes the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, both of which have ties with Israel -- also praised the move. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
