Israel says it will let foreign countries drop aid into Gaza as hunger crisis spirals
The airdrops are expected to be carried out in the coming days by the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, according to the security source. Despite pressure for a ceasefire, both Israel and the United States signaled Friday that they were abandoning talks with Hamas.
Israel also said that World Central Kitchen, an international relief organization that has provided food to Palestinians in the enclave throughout the war, had also begun reactivating its kitchens. WCK did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
The organization paused operations in Gaza in November after a number of its workers were killed in an Israeli strike last year, but announced in June it would resume cooking in Gaza.
Past efforts to airdrop aid into Gaza, including by the United States, were heavily criticized as an insufficient and impractical way to get relief to the more than 2 million people suffering in dire conditions under Israeli military assault.
The developments come as Israel faces growing backlash on the international stage, with doctors and aid groups operating in Gaza warning of starvation spreading across the enclave.
More than 100 people had died from 'famine and malnutrition,' most of them children, since the war began in the enclave, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said in a statement Wednesday.
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New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
New York Times stunningly rolls back claims about viral photo of starving Gaza boy
The New York Times appended a story it published last week containing a shocking image of a child purportedly suffering from starvation in Gaza with an editor's note Tuesday. The note informs readers that Mohammed Zakaria al Mutawaq — the Gazan boy 'diagnosed with severe malnutrition' and pictured in the article — also suffers from 'pre-existing health problems.' 'We recently ran a story about Gaza's most vulnerable civilians, including Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, who is about 18 months old and suffers from severe malnutrition,' a spokesperson for the outlet said in a statement. Advertisement 4 Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, a 1.5-year-old child in Gaza City, Gaza, faces life-threatening malnutrition. Anadolu via Getty Images 4 The New York Times released an editor's note that Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq also suffers from 'pre-existing health conditions.' Anadolu via Getty Images 'We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems,' the spokesperson continued. Advertisement 'This additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of his situation.' The stark images of little al Mutawaq — shown with a gaunt face and his spine protruding from his back as his mother held him — went viral last week, with many using him as the poster child for starvation in the Palestinian enclave amid Israel's war against Hamas. Days after the New York Times published images of al Mutawaq, pro-Israel group HonestReporting noted on July 27 that the boy's older brother, Joud, is standing in the background, appearing in far better condition. 4 The New York Times posted the editors note on Tuesday. New York Times/X Advertisement 4 The images of al Mutawaq went viral last week. Anadolu via Getty Images Al Mutawaq's mother has also indicated that her son suffers from a 'muscle disorder' for which he receives specialized nutrition and physical therapy. She noted — in a CNN segment last week — that her son was 'happy' and able to 'sit upright.' The Times note did not elaborate on the pre-existing health problems al Mutawaq suffers from. However, pro-Israel journalist David Collier reported last week that the young boy has 'cerebral palsy, hypoxemia, and was born with a serious genetic disorder,' citing a May 2025 medical report from Gaza.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Worst-case scenario of famine' is happening in Gaza, food crisis experts warn
APTOPIX Mideast Wars Dying of Hunger TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,' the leading international authority on food crises said in a new alert Tuesday, predicting 'widespread death' without immediate action. The alert, still short of a formal famine declaration, follows an outcry over images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of dozens of hunger-related deaths after nearly 22 months of war. International pressure led Israel over the weekend to announce measures, including daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and airdrops. The U.N. and Palestinians on the ground say little has changed, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm delivery trucks before they reach their destinations. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years, but recent developments have 'dramatically worsened' the situation, including 'increasingly stringent blockades' by Israel. A formal famine declaration, which is rare, requires the kind of data that the lack of access to Gaza, and mobility within, has largely denied. The IPC has only declared famine a few times — in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and parts of Sudan's western Darfur region last year. But independent experts say they don't need a formal declaration to know what they're seeing in Gaza. 'Just as a family physician can often diagnose a patient she's familiar with based on visible symptoms without having to send samples to the lab and wait for results, so too we can interpret Gaza's symptoms. This is famine,' Alex de Waal, author of 'Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine' and executive director of the World Peace Foundation, told The Associated Press. What it takes to declare famine An area is classified as in famine when all three of the following conditions are confirmed: At least 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, or are essentially starving. At least 30% of children six months to 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning they're too thin for their height. And at least two people or four children under 5 per 10,000 are dying daily due to starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease. The report is based on available information through July 25 and says the crisis has reached 'an alarming and deadly turning point.' It says data indicate that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza — at its lowest level since the war began — and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City. The report says nearly 17 out of every 100 children under the age of 5 in Gaza City are acutely malnourished. Mounting evidence shows 'widespread starvation.' Essential health and other services have collapsed. One in three people in Gaza is going without food for days at a time, according to the World Food Program. Hospitals report a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths in children under 5. Gaza's population of over 2 million has been squeezed into increasingly tiny areas of the devastated territory. 'This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes,' U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres said in a statement on the new report, adding that the 'trickle of aid must become an ocean.' More deaths to come The IPC alert calls for immediate and large-scale action and warns: 'Failure to act now will result in widespread death in much of the strip.' Humanitarian workers agreed. 'If we don't have the conditions to react to this mass starvation, we will see this exponential rise," said Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save the Children International, based in Gaza. "So we will see thousands and potentially tens of thousands of people die in Gaza. That is preventable.' She described children digging through trash piles outside their office, looking for food. Anything less than a ceasefire and a return to the U.N.-led aid system in place before Israel's blockade in early March 'is policymakers condemning tens of thousands of people in Gaza to death, starvation and disease,' said Rob Williams, CEO for War Child Alliance. 'All of the children who are currently malnourished will die. That is, unless there's an absolutely rapid and consistent reversal of what is happening," said Dr. Tarek Loubani, medical director for Glia, based in Gaza. 'Open every border crossing' Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine, to pressure Hamas to free hostages. Israel eased those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead with a new U.S.-backed aid delivery system that has been wracked by chaos and violence. The traditional, U.N.-led aid providers say deliveries have been hampered by Israeli military restrictions and incidents of looting, while criminals and hungry crowds swarm entering convoys. While Israel says there's no limit on how many aid trucks can enter Gaza, U.N. agencies and aid groups say even the latest humanitarian measures are not enough to counter the worsening starvation. 'The fastest and most effective way to save lives right now is to open every border crossing,' Tjada D'Oyen McKenna, head of Mercy Corps. the international relief agency, said in a statement Tuesday. Aid groups call the airdrops ineffective and dangerous, saying they deliver less aid than trucks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said no one is starving in Gaza and that Israel has supplied enough aid throughout the war, 'otherwise, there would be no Gazans.' Israel's closest ally now appears to disagree. 'Those children look very hungry,' President Donald Trump said Monday. ___ Anna reported from Lowville, New York. Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed.
Boston Globe
4 hours ago
- Boston Globe
More than 60,000 people killed in Gaza war, local health officials say
The ministry has recently begun reporting a separate toll: the growing number of deaths from hunger after months of Israeli aid restrictions raised the threat of mass starvation. More than 130 people have died of hunger, most of them in recent weeks, according to the Health Ministry. More than 1,000 have been shot waiting for aid, most in the scramble to reach first-come, first-served food distributed at points located inside Israeli military zones. Gaza as it was before the war — a tiny but bustling territory with high-rises, universities, and seaside cafes — no longer exists. Entire cities have been reduced to rubble. The highways have been excoriated, exposing the sand beneath. Most of the population has been pushed into the 12 percent of the enclave that Israel has not ordered evacuated, and diseases such as polio and meningitis have emerged. Advertisement 'The scale of human suffering and the stripping of human dignity have long exceeded every acceptable standard — both legal and moral,' Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement Friday. 'Every political hesitation, every attempt at justification of the horrors being committed under international watch will forever be judged as a collective failure to preserve humanity in war.' In a statement Tuesday, the ministry said 60,034 people had been killed and another 145,870 injured since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 others back to Gaza as hostages. Since then, the Gaza Health Ministry has provided near-daily updates on casualties from the conflict and released multiple spreadsheets listing the names, ages, and identification numbers of the majority of the dead. Some remains have yet to be identified, health officials say, and an estimate of the number of bodies still under the rubble stands at roughly 10,000, according to Health Ministry and UN figures. The Israeli military does not provide regular updates for its own assessment of how many Palestinians have been killed. In January, outgoing chief of staff Herzi Halevi said that the Israel Defense Forces had 'eliminated close to 20,000 Hamas operatives.' On Monday, the IDF spokesperson's unit said that 20,000 was the most recent number the military has 'addressed on the record.' The military did not say how it reached that figure. On its latest spreadsheet released in June, the Gaza Health Ministry recorded at least 1,860 deaths of children under the age of 2 since the start of the war. In more than 2,600 families, all of the immediate family members have been killed, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the ministry's records department. Advertisement Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire in January, described by the US officials who helped negotiate it as a stepping stone to a lasting peace. Over the next two months, the fighting stopped, relief flowed to Gaza, and both Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were released in choreographed exchanges. But when the time came to negotiate the second phase of the agreement, which Hamas hoped would see a full withdrawal of Israeli forces, Israel refused to participate and imposed a blockade of all food, aid and fuel to Gaza. About two weeks later, it resumed military operations there. Talks between Israel and Hamas broke down again last week. President Trump said Friday that Hamas 'didn't want to make' a deal; Hamas said that its latest response through Egyptian and Qatari mediators was close to a US-proposed agreement on how to end the war. Hamas continues to hold about 50 hostages, according to Israeli authorities, roughly 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
