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More than 17 million people in Yemen are going hungry, including over 1 million children, UN says

More than 17 million people in Yemen are going hungry, including over 1 million children, UN says

UNITED NATIONS: More than 17 million people in conflict-torn Yemen are going hungry, including over a million children under the age of 5 who are suffering from 'life-threatening acute malnutrition,' the United Nations humanitarian chief said Wednesday.
Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council that the food security crisis in the Arab world's poorest country, which is beset by civil war, has been accelerating since late 2023.
The number of people going hungry could climb to over 18 million by September, he warned, and the number of children with acute malnutrition could surge to 1.2 million early next year, 'leaving many at risk of permanent physical and cognitive damage.'
According to experts who produce the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority that ranks the severity of hunger, more than 17,000 Yemenis are in the three worst categories of food insecurity — crisis stage or worse.
Fletcher said the UN hasn't seen the current level of deprivation since before a UN-brokered truce in early 2022. He noted that it is unfolding as global funding for humanitarian aid is plummeting, which means reductions or cuts in food. According to the U.N., as of mid-May, the U.N.'s $2.5 billion humanitarian appeal for Yemen this year had received just $222 million, just 9%.
Yemen has been embroiled in civil war since 2014, when Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile in Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition intervened months later and has been battling the rebels since 2015 to try and restore the government.
The war has devastated Yemen, created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, and turned into a stalemated proxy conflict. More than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, have been killed.
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'Walking corpses': Photos of malnourished Gaza toddler go viral as humanitarian situation worsens; see pics inside
'Walking corpses': Photos of malnourished Gaza toddler go viral as humanitarian situation worsens; see pics inside

Time of India

timea day ago

  • Time of India

'Walking corpses': Photos of malnourished Gaza toddler go viral as humanitarian situation worsens; see pics inside

Representative- AI generated image A Gaza-based photographer has revealed the heartbreaking reality behind a viral image taken by him of a severely underweight child, captured amid the worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory. Speaking to BBC Newshour, Ahmed al-Arini said he took the photograph to "show the rest of the world extreme hunger" affecting babies and children in the Gaza Strip. While global food security experts have not formally declared a famine, United Nations agencies have warned that Gaza is in the grip of mass, man-made starvation. They cite Israel's control over the flow of supplies into the Palestinian enclave as the primary cause- a claim Israel strongly denies. The Israeli government instead blames Hamas for malnutrition cases. According to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), around 20 per cent of children in Gaza City suffer from malnutrition, with the numbers growing daily. On Thursday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini relayed a stark observation from a colleague, similar to the photographer's portrayal, - "People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Paras Sector 59 Gurgaon | Luxury Awaits at Paras Floret Paras The Florett Book Now Undo Over 100 international humanitarian and human rights organisations have sounded the alarm on widespread hunger and urged immediate global intervention. Israel, which oversees all crossings into Gaza, maintains it is not imposing a blockade and continues to hold Hamas accountable for food shortages. The UN, however, says the level of aid entering the strip is critically low and the hunger crisis is without precedent. In a statement, Lazzarini said "more than 100 people, the vast majority of them children, have reportedly died of hunger." He added: "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 urged Israel to "allow humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza." UNRWA staff themselves are increasingly struggling. "When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing," Lazzarini said, adding that staff are "increasingly fainting from hunger while at work." The World Health Organisation (WHO) echoed the warnings. On Wednesday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation — and it's man-made." People of Gaza describe their living conditions In northern Gaza, 40-year-old Hanaa Almadhoun described worsening conditions. She told the BBC via WhatsApp, "If [food and supplies] do exist then they come at exorbitant prices that no ordinary person can afford." 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To streamline relief efforts, Israel and the United States established the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), but deadly incidents have continued. The UN human rights office reports that over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while attempting to collect food aid in the last two months, according to BBC. At least 766 of those deaths occurred near one of GHF's four distribution centres, operated by US private contractors inside Israeli military zones. Another 288 were killed near UN and other aid convoys. Israel maintains that Hamas incites disorder near aid convoys and insists that its troops fire only warning shots, avoiding civilian harm. The GHF has accused the UN of relying on "false" data from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. Najah, a 19-year-old widow sheltering at a Gaza hospital, said she fears for her life every time she attempts to reach an aid site. She told the BBC: "I hope they bring us something to eat and drink. We die of hunger with nothing to eat or drink. We live in tents. We are finished off." Dr Aseel, a physician working with a UK-based medical charity in Gaza, disputed the suggestion that famine is looming — saying it's already here. "My husband went once [to an aid distribution point] and twice and then got shot and that was it," she said. "If we are to die from hunger, let it be. The path to aid is the path to death." Gaza market seller Abu Alaa described his family's daily struggle: "We go to bed hungry every night. We are not alive. We are dead. We are pleading with the whole world to intervene and save us." Meanwhile, Eight months pregnant with her third child, Walaa Fathi said Gaza is experiencing a level of deprivation few imagined possible. From Deir al-Balah, she told the BBC: "We are experiencing a catastrophe and a famine that no one could have imagined. I hope that my baby stays in my womb and I don't have to give birth in these difficult circumstances."

Nat'l contest for kids to design UN 80th anniv postage stamp
Nat'l contest for kids to design UN 80th anniv postage stamp

Time of India

time2 days ago

  • Time of India

Nat'l contest for kids to design UN 80th anniv postage stamp

Lucknow: The department of post is organising a national stamp design competition to mark the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, inviting students to share their art and ideas for the commemorative postage stamp. The theme of the competition is 'UN@80 and India's leadership in building our future through multilateralism, global leadership, and stewardship'. The contest is open to students of Classes 9 to 12 from recognised art colleges, schools affiliated with CBSE, state boards, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas, said an official. He said entries must be created on A4 size (200 GSM white) sheets using suitable colouring materials. Each school/college may submit a maximum of five shortlisted entries to Lucknow GPO. The top five shortlisted entries are to be uploaded on the MyGov Portal by the respective institutions. Live submissions on the MyGov Portal start from 10am to 5pm and can be done until Aug 15.

Gaza in ruins: How the territory has been reduced to rubble
Gaza in ruins: How the territory has been reduced to rubble

First Post

time2 days ago

  • First Post

Gaza in ruins: How the territory has been reduced to rubble

Gaza has been reduced to ruins after 21 months of war, with over 70 per cent of its buildings damaged or destroyed and 53 million tonnes of debris blanketing the strip. Night-time light has dropped sevenfold as power infrastructure collapses, while hospitals and schools lie in ruins. Is Gaza still liveable under such devastation? read more Palestinians gather as they carry aid supplies that entered Gaza through Israel, amid a hunger crisis, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, July 20, 2025. File Image/Reuters After 21 months of war, Gaza has seen 70 per cent of its buildings either destroyed or damaged, leaving the Palestinian enclave buried under millions of tonnes of rubble and shrouded in darkness, according to data from the United Nations and Nasa, analysed by AFP. In response to the 2023 Hamas-led assault that sparked the conflict and resulted in 1,219 deaths on the Israeli side — mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official sources — the Israeli military has continuously bombarded the densely populated strip, which spans 365 square kilometres (141 square miles). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 53 million tonnes of rubble According to the health ministry operating under the Hamas-led administration, Israel's offensive has claimed the lives of 59,219 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians. The destruction on the ground has been immense: by April 4, 2025, the UN's satellite analysis agency, UNOSAT, reported that 174,500 buildings had been levelled by the Israeli strikes. UNOSAT has estimated the resulting debris at 53.5 million tonnes — around ten times the mass of Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza. That equates to approximately 146 kilogrammes of rubble for every square metre of land in the enclave, according to the same UN body. While there were already buildings in Gaza that had been razed by Israel before the war, the scale of destruction since October 2023 is 18 times greater than the debris accumulated from Israeli strikes over the past 15 years combined. Asbestos and toxic hazards A July publication by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned that the vast quantity of rubble contains hazardous substances that could jeopardise public health in Gaza. UNEP estimated that debris from older buildings may include 3.7 tonnes of asbestos, along with 2.6 tonnes of toxic waste originating from destroyed industrial facilities. The agency noted that several densely populated refugee camps — such as those in Jabalia, Nuseirat, Maghazi, Khan Yunis, and Rafah—are situated dangerously close to 'debris potentially contaminated with asbestos'. Only half of hospitals 'partially' operational Hospitals and clinics have also taken a heavy toll during Israeli airstrikes. Israel alleges that Hamas uses hospitals as bases or hideouts to conduct operations. As of June 30, just 18 of Gaza's 36 hospitals were 'partially' functional, according to UN figures. Out of a total of 163 healthcare facilities, only 63 — or fewer than 40 per cent — were deemed fit to provide any medical care. Nearly 90% of schools affected Schools have similarly been ravaged by the ongoing bombardment. Many were repurposed as shelters for displaced families, but the Israeli military claims Hamas has used school premises to conceal its fighters. Palestinian children gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 22, 2025. File Image/Reuters UNICEF, in its April 1 report, stated that out of 564 documented schools, 501 had suffered damage — meaning almost 90 percent had been affected. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Of these, 95 schools may have sustained severe damage, while 406 were hit directly. Night-time illumination falls sevenfold Prior to the war, residents of the Gaza Strip received grid electricity for about 12 hours a day, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). By 2024, that access had completely disappeared. The sole power plant in Gaza shut down in the early phase of the conflict due to a lack of fuel. Meanwhile, power lines from Israel — which had previously supplied a significant portion of Gaza's energy — were cut off. Before the war, the power plant and Israeli supply lines jointly fulfilled 43 per cent of Gaza's electricity demand. The rest had already gone unmet. Now, the enclave is plunged into near-total darkness once night falls. Using Nasa's BlackMarble project, which tracks ground-level light emissions (radiance), AFP analysed nighttime light levels. From January to May 2025, the average nighttime radiance in Gaza had fallen to one-seventh of the levels seen from May to September 2023 — before the war began. In Gaza City, the reduction was even starker, with nighttime brightness down by a factor of 16. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The only zone with illumination levels similar to pre-war figures was the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along Gaza's border with Egypt, now entirely controlled by the Israeli military. Also Watch: With inputs from AFP

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