
Gaza food situation 'worst it's ever been', charity says – as UK promises £40m in aid
Her comments to Sky's chief presenter Mark Austin come amid fresh international outcry over Israel's restrictions on aid, as the UK has joined together with 24 other countries to say: "The war in Gaza must end now."
Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save The Children, is in Deir al Balah, a city in central Gaza where tens of thousands of people have sought refuge during repeated waves of mass displacement.
She said: "One of my colleagues said to me yesterday, 'We are all walking together towards death'. And this is the situation now for people in Gaza.
"The markets are empty," she said. "People may even have cash in their pockets yet they cannot buy bread [or] vegetables.
"My team have said to me, 'There's nothing in my house to feed my children, my children are crying all day, every day."
Israel launched a ground assault on Deir al Balah on Monday morning, another charity said earlier.
Ms Cummings's comments came as the UK and 24 other nations issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire.
The statement criticised aid distribution in Gaza, which is being managed by a US and Israel-backed organisation, Gaza Health Foundation.
"The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity," it said.
The 25 countries also called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of hostages captured by Hamas during the 7 October 2023 attacks.
Lammy promises £40m for Gaza aid
Foreign Secretary David Lammy later promised £40m for humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
He told MPs: "We are leading diplomatic efforts to show that there must be a viable pathway to a Palestinian state involving the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, in the security and governance of the area.
"Hamas can have no role in the governance of Gaza, nor use it as a launchpad for terrorism."
2:53
Addressing the foreign secretaries' joint written statement, charity worker Liz Allcock - who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in Gaza - told Sky News: "While we welcome this, there have been statements in the past 21 months and nothing has changed.
"In fact, things have only got worse. And every time we think it can't get worse, it does."
"Without a reversal of the siege, the lack of supplies, the constant bombardment, the forced displacement, the killing, the militarisation of aid, we are going to collapse as a humanitarian response," she said.
"And this would do a grave injustice to the 2.2 million people we're trying to serve.
"An immediate and permanent ceasefire, and avenues for accountability in line with international law, is the minimum people here deserve."
The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.
More than 59,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
In recent weeks while waiting for food and aid.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
a few seconds ago
- The Independent
A man asked ChatGPT how to remove sodium chloride from his diet. It landed him in the hospital
A 60-year-old man landed in the hospital after asking ChatGPT how to remove sodium chloride from his diet. As humans interact more with artificial intelligence, there continues to be stories of how a conversation with a chatbot could be dangerous, sometimes even deadly. While part of the focus has been on mental health and concerns that chatbots are not equipped to handle these types of struggles, there are also implications for people's physical health. People often hear that you shouldn't Google your symptoms, as medical advice should be given by a health professional, who knows your medical history and can actually examine you. According to a new case report published in the American College of Physicians Journals on Tuesday, you should also be careful when considering asking a chatbot health questions. The report looked at a man who developed bromism after asking ChatGPT for advice on his diet. Bromism, or Bromide toxicity, was well-known in the early 1990s but is less common now. At the time, bromide salts were found in many over-the-counter medications to treat insomnia, hysteria and anxiety. Ingesting too much bromide can cause neuropsychiatric and dermatologic symptoms. The man in this case report had no past psychiatric or medical history, but during the first 24 hours of his hospitalization, he expressed increased paranoia and auditory and visual hallucinations. 'He was noted to be very thirsty but paranoid about water he was offered,' the case report read. The man was treated with fluids and electrolytes and became medically stable, allowing him to be admitted to the hospital's inpatient psychiatry unit. As his condition improved, he was able to share some symptoms he had noticed, including newly appeared facial acne and cherry angiomas, which further suggested he was experiencing bromism. He also said he had been swapping sodium chloride, or table salt, for sodium bromide for three months after reading about the negative health effects of table salt. 'Inspired by his history of studying nutrition in college, he decided to conduct a personal experiment to eliminate chloride from his diet,' the case report read. He had replaced table salt with 'sodium bromide obtained from the internet after consultation with ChatGPT, in which he had read that chloride can be swapped with bromide, though likely for other purposes, such as cleaning.' The Independent has reached out to OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, for comment. The man spent three weeks in the hospital before he was well enough to be discharged. 'It is important to consider that ChatGPT and other AI systems can generate scientific inaccuracies, lack the ability to critically discuss results, and ultimately fuel the spread of misinformation,' the authors of the report warned.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Health experts urge ban on school materials backed by food, drink and gambling firms
Health experts have urged Bridget Phillipson to stop schools using educational materials funded by the food, drink and gambling industries, in order to protect children from 'harmful' influences. Dozens of doctors, health charities and public health specialists have written to the education secretary warning her that such firms are sponsoring resources used in lessons with pupils, despite them misrepresenting the evidence about diets, alcohol and betting. Some of the materials teach young people how to pour glasses of wine, distort the evidence about alcohol's role in causing cancer, and promote 'responsible gambling' to them, the letter says. The Obesity Health Alliance, British Medical Association, and directors of public health and World Cancer Research Fund are among those who have signed the letter. They are alarmed by companies gaining 'corporate reach' in schools by supplying teacher resource packs and student information sheets that they claim constitute 'misleading and harmful classroom materials'. 'We wouldn't let big tobacco teach children about smoking. So why are we allowing the alcohol, gambling and junk food industries into classrooms?' said Chris van Tulleken, a professor of infectious disease and global health at University College London. 'Allowing these industries into schools distorts learning and helps industry establish the next generation of customers.' The coalition of 58 health experts, groups and academics wants Phillipson to adopt the same tough approach as the Republic of Ireland. In 2022 its government told schools not to use materials in the classroom that had been funded by the alcohol industry or other 'parties with conflicts of interest'. Academic studies have found that 'self-claimed prevention education programmes … serve the interests of their commercial funders. The materials help to normalise harmful behaviours, omit or misrepresent important risks, and shift responsibility for harm on to individuals, including children and young people, and away from the industries and their practices.' Dr May van Schalkwyk, a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh and expert in corporate tactics, said: 'The evidence is clear. Industries whose products are undermining the health and wellbeing of children and young people fund harmful youth education programmes as part of their corporate strategies. Urgent action is needed to prevent this form of influence and conflicts of interest'. The letter highlights examples of how the alcohol, gambling and junk food industries have been gaining influence in schools by supplying sponsored resources. It claims that Smashed, a play about underage drinking sponsored by drinks firm Diageo used in PSHE lessons, contains 'cancer misinformation, for instance omitting the most common forms of alcohol-related cancer or suggesting alcohol-related cancers are only associated with heavy drinking'. The letter also alleges that Gamble Aware, an industry-funded charity, has produced 'educational materials that promote the industry-favoured idea of 'responsible gambling'. These introduce young people to gambling products and may facilitate gambling initiations, for example by teaching students how to use a betting slip.' In addition, 'in some sixth-form colleges, brands like Costa Coffee and Starbucks have set up entire outlets that sell items packed with sugar', the letter adds. Zoe Osmond, Gamble Aware's chief executive, said it commissions 'a broad range of independently designed and delivered education programmes, which are evaluated using transparent criteria by independent researchers. 'We only ever commission activity aimed to raise awareness of the risks of gambling and direct people to appropriate support and treatment. It is inaccurate and irresponsible to suggest otherwise.' Drinkaware said it no longer sponsors materials for schools. 'The education programme referenced in the letter [about how to pour drinks] was wound down in 2019, six years ago and three years before the academic paper cited was published', a spokesperson said. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Diageo rebutted the letter's description of Smashed, which it said 'has successfully educated hundreds of thousands of young people on the risks of underage drinking. It is disappointing this letter attempts to undermine a proven initiative. 'Ninety-nine per cent of participating teachers surveyed last year said it was important programmes like this are funded to visit schools, and 87% said they now feel more confident talking with young people about the dangers of underage drinking. 'The programme makes clear unambiguous references to several risks associated with alcohol including various cancers, and it is misleading to suggest otherwise.' Starbucks said that it has opened outlets 'in a small number of schools and further education facilities', but in schools they are only available to sixth-formers. The Department for Education was approached for comment.


Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Reeves ‘vastly underestimated' scale of private school parents' VAT rebellion
Rachel Reeves 'massively underestimated' the scale of parents paying private school fees upfront to avoid VAT, internal Treasury forecasts suggest. Experts who reviewed documents obtained by The Telegraph said that Whitehall was not expecting the hundreds of millions of pounds of school fees that were paid in advance last year, ahead of the tax raid coming into force on Jan 1 2025. A total of £515m flooded into the advance fee schemes of the top 50 independent schools alone, allowing parents to avoid paying the 20 per cent levy imposed by ministers. This money is used to pay school costs one or more years before they fall due. Internal Treasury forecasts obtained by The Telegraph suggest this vastly eclipsed government predictions. Ms Reeves, the Chancellor, announced last year that all fee prepayments from July 29 would be subject to VAT, as the Government tried to clamp down on the potential tax loophole. Treasury calculations shared with ministers last summer show they expected to raise £90m in VAT from fees in advance schemes made beyond that date. This would equate to tax on around £450m in upfront school fees after July 29 last year, since VAT is charged at 20 per cent. The documents obtained by The Telegraph reveal that the Government also considered trying to capture fee prepayments made from May 22 2024 – the date Rishi Sunak called a general election – but ultimately rejected this option. The internal Treasury advice said it expected doing so would raise an additional £30m in VAT, bringing the total forecast for money raised by charging the 20 per cent levy on fee prepayments to £120m. This would equate to parents handing over around £600m in fee prepayments across all 2,600 private schools in the UK. However, private schools' annual accounts suggest the total is likely to be significantly higher. Eton College alone received as much as £52.7m in upfront fees from parents ahead of the July 29 deadline. This would have handed the Treasury an extra £10.5m in VAT if the tax were applied to Eton's prepaid fees alone. Treasury officials said in the documents: 'As demonstrated by the small differences in the costings, not legislating back to an earlier date in time does not mean that we expect to lose significant amounts of revenue.' They added that it would be 'difficult to justify' trying to retrospectively tax fee prepayments 'given the legislation would be giving effect to the policy before the details… were known'. Tom Clougherty, executive director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: 'It does appear that the Government massively underestimated the behavioural effect of introducing VAT on private school fees. 'Prepayment has clearly been far more significant than the Treasury anticipated when preparing the policy, but I suspect that is just one part of a wider picture. More children have been withdrawn from the independent sector, and more schools have closed, too.' Mairéad Warren de Búrca, managing director at Alvarez and Marsal Tax, said: 'I think they've just done what a lot of people have done, which is underestimate how much cash is available and also the lengths to which parents would go to to fund private education in the most cost-effective way possible.' The internal Government communications obtained by The Telegraph do not include forecasts about the potential use of prepayment schemes prior to May 2024. They instead show the Treasury drew up its own internal forecasts for expected revenue gain from both VAT and prepayment schemes, and that these were later analysed by the Office for Budget Responsibility. The documents reveal Treasury officials defended targeting parents who paid fees upfront, saying: 'It is unfair that those who are financially able to pre-pay should benefit over those who cannot.' A Whitehall source said the Government had always predicted a huge rise in the use of fees in advance schemes by the richest parents trying to avoid VAT, and that ministers were confident they could recoup most of the money. HMRC has said it will now 'carefully scrutinise' prepayments amid concerns that some schools may have abused the financial mechanisms to avoid VAT. The Government is expected to target schools that set up fees in advance schemes in a hurry ahead of the VAT start date, or those that used them more like 'deposits'. For prepayments to be treated as genuine, they must contractually apply to a specific service at a specific price – rather than a vague lump sum to be sorted out at a future date. It is expected to spark lengthy legal battles between both HMRC and private schools, and potentially between parents and private schools over who is liable for unpaid VAT. Tax experts said it could lead to parents suddenly being told they are on the hook for tens of thousands of pounds in tax several years down the line. A government spokesman said: 'The Office for Budget Responsibility has already factored in the increased use of pre-payment schemes in its revenue forecasts. 'Removing tax breaks for private schools is expected to raise £1.8bn a year by 2029-30. 'This funding will help us recruit 6,500 new teachers and improve standards in state schools, which educate 94 per cent of children.'