‘Weaponisation of food': Aid groups decry Gaza starvation as Europe urges ceasefire
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 call 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.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday welcomed the announcement, calling it a 'victory for the Palestinian cause'.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long opposed a Palestinian state, calling it a security risk and a potential haven for 'terrorists'.
On Wednesday, a large majority in Israel's parliament passed a symbolic motion backing annexation of the occupied West Bank, the core of any future Palestinian state.
'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 Organisation 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 the GHF, 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.
Israel has refused to return to the UN-led system, saying that it allowed Hamas to hijack aid for its own benefit.
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 malnourished patients every day.
'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'.
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, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Hamas's October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. — AFP
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'These indicators reflect a child's ability to navigate digital spaces responsibly and safely,' she said. Clicking into childhood From Allistair Adam's point of view, there are no hard and fast rules on the 'right' age when it comes to children using things like smartphones, social media, or even engaging in online games. 'Often, smartphones are given to children as a digital pacifier to keep them calm or preoccupied, especially in public settings. 'While this may offer quick relief, developing healthy screen time usage requires more thoughtful consideration,' he said. Raihan Munira advised parents to look beyond age and consider developmental indicators to see if their kids are ready for screen use. — APU There are some guideposts available for parents to have a point of reference. For instance, Allistair Adam said that the World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend screen time at all for kids below two years of age, while those aged between two to four should be limited to just an hour each day. Raihan Munira, on the other hand, said that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under 18 months old be kept off screen-based media entirely, except for video chatting. She further said that for children aged 18 to 24 months, any digital content should be limited to high-quality programming viewed together with a parent, while for those aged two to five, screen time should be capped at one hour a day. From age six onwards, parents should set clear, consistent limits on both screen time and content. Vinorra Shaker, the head of the school of psychology at APU, highlighted that Malaysian children are becoming increasingly connected with the digital world, which has turned out to be somewhat of a double-edged sword. She said that while Malaysian children are generally tech-savvy, with competency in navigating apps, social media platforms, and games, this does not necessarily translate to being able to engage digital spaces safely. 'Compared to children in some developed countries like those in Scandinavia or parts of Western Europe, Malaysian kids often have less structured digital education. 'This means they might be more exposed to online risks such as cyberbullying, privacy breaches, or harmful content. A Unicef study even found that while Malaysian youth are confident online, many don't fully understand how to protect themselves from threats. 'The good news is that digital literacy programmes are growing in schools, and awareness among parents and educators is increasing. From age six onwards, parents should set clear, consistent limits on both screen time and content, said Raihan Munira. — Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash 'But there's still a gap to close when it comes to teaching children not just how to use technology, but how to use it responsibly and safely,' she said. As Allistair Adam pointed out, 'studies from states such as Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Kedah show that most preschoolers are already using smartphones and other digital devices regularly'. One of the studies, 'Screen Media Dependency And Its Associated Factors Among Preschool Children In Kuala Lumpur' published in the Malaysian Journal Of Medicine And Health Sciences in May 2023, found that over 65% of preschoolers in Kuala Lumpur show signs of dependence on their devices. Another study, 'Determinants of Excessive Screen Time Among Children Under Five Years Old in Selangor, Malaysia: A Cross-Sectional Study' published in the International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health in March 2022, found that over 90% of preschoolers in Selangor exceed recommended screen time limits, underscoring a lack in digital maturity among Malaysian children when compared to their peers in countries with structured digital literacy programmes. 'This gap between access and readiness increases their vulnerability to digital dependency, cyberbullying, and misinformation. 'It highlights the need for nationwide digital literacy initiatives and child-focused online safety policies,' he said. Greater guidance Srividhya further called for concrete guidelines from the government that are 'clear, practical, and grounded in the realities of Malaysian families, not just borrowed from other jurisdictions or imposed in a top-down way'. 'There's too much uncertainty. Parents, schools, and even platforms are often left to interpret things for themselves, which leads to inconsistent decisions and, ultimately, children falling through the cracks.' She said that the country does not necessarily need new blanket laws, but rather a framework that provides guidance in the form of minimum standards that also offers some flexibility. This could come in the form of general suggestions for platforms based on age, and the specific kinds of digital competencies children need to access them, along with the responsibilities held by parents, educators, and platforms, she added. 'It's not just about when a child can go online – it's about how they should be supported when they do. 'Right now, our response to children's digital access tends to be reactive. A case goes viral, there's public outcry, and we start talking about bans or surveillance. 'But these approaches don't address the core issue: most children are getting online anyway – often unsupervised and unprepared. 'Without national guidelines that put child rights and child realities at the centre, we're just leaving families to figure it out on their own,' Srividhya said. For Allistair Adam, it comes down to ensuring that a child is emotionally prepared to engage with the digital world. 'For parents, assessing readiness involves observing whether the child can regulate their emotions, follow rules, manage screen time without being attached, recognise unsafe or inappropriate content, and communicate openly with their parents on their digital use. 'Children should also be able to balance screen time with other important daily activities such as schoolwork, play and family time. 'Policymakers, on the other hand, can support this by ensuring access to early digital literacy education, promoting age-appropriate platform design, and developing national guidelines that safeguard children's digital well-being. 'In the end, readiness is not just whether a child has the skills to manage screen time but whether they have received the right modelling, guidance, and support to use digital tools wisely – that should be the best indicator,' he said.
