One in five children in Gaza City malnourished, UN warns – Middle East crisis live
Date: 2025-08-16T08:05:18.000Z
Title: Opening summary
Content: Good morning and welcome to the Guardian's Middle East live blog.
Here's an overview of the latest developments in the region:
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) warned that malnutrition in Gaza City has reached 21.5%, meaning about one in five young children are now malnourished.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said earlier this week that almost 13,000 new admissions of children for acute malnutrition treatment were recorded in July 2025 across Gaza.
Two more people were killed near aid distribution sites in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported, after the UN said the death toll near the humanitarian centres has risen to 1,760 since May.
Foreign Ministers of 31 Arab and Islamic countries and the secretaries-general of the League of Arab States released a statement condemning the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's backing of the notion of a 'Greater Israel'. Asked by i24News whether the prime minister 'connects' with the vision of a Greater Israel, he said: 'Very much.' The term is often used to describe biblical Israel, which includes parts of Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Syria. Responding to the remarks, the Arab and Islamic nations said the remarks amount to 'a grave disregard' of international law and 'a direct threat to Arab national security'.
A special unit in Israel's military was tasked with identifying reporters it could smear as undercover Hamas fighters, the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine reports. This comes after Israel claimed responsibility for prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, who it accused of leading a Hamas cell.
The Israeli military claimed an air strike in southern Lebanon in the late hours of last night, saying it targeted sites run by Hezbollah.
This comes after Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem accused Lebanon's government of 'handing' the country to Israel by pushing for the group's disarmament, warning it would fight to keep its weapons.
Israel's far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir published a video on Friday showing him confronting the most high-profile Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody in his prison cell. Marwan Barghouti, a leading member of the Palestinian Fatah party, has spent more than 20 years behind bars after being sentenced for his role in anti-Israeli attacks in the early 2000s.
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