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RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
'Hungriest place on Earth': UN warns entire population of Gaza at risk of famine
A young Palestinian girl looks into the camera as displaced Palestinians live in temporary tents set up near demolished buildings as displacement crisis worsens in Gaza, Palestinian territories on 29 May, 2025. Photo: Abood Abusalama / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP The UN warned on Friday (Saturday NZT) that the entire population of Gaza is at risk of famine, as Israel vowed to build a "Jewish Israeli state" in the occupied West Bank. Israel has faced mounting international pressure over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the UN says only a trickle of aid has been allowed in after a more than two-month blockade. Negotiations to end nearly 20 months of war in Gaza have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in March following a short-lived truce. Israel has meanwhile doubled down on its settlement expansion in the West Bank, while defying calls from French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders for a two-state solution. Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, on Friday called Gaza "the hungriest place on Earth". "It's the only defined area - a country or defined territory within a country - where you have the entire population at risk of famine. One hundred percent of the population at risk of famine," he said. Recent AFPTV footage has shown chaotic scenes as large crowds of Palestinians desperate for food rushed to a limited number of aid distribution centres to pick up supplies. Israel recently intensified its Gaza offensive in what it says is a renewed push to destroy Hamas, drawing sharp international criticism, including from allies such as Britain and Germany. This week Israel announced the creation of 22 new settlements in the West Bank. London called the move a "deliberate obstacle" to Palestinian statehood, and UN chief António Guterres' spokesman said it pushed efforts towards a two-state solution "in the wrong direction". On Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to build a "Jewish Israeli state" in the Palestinian territory which Israel has occupied since 1967. "This is a decisive response to the terrorist organisations that are trying to harm and weaken our hold on this land," Katz said in a video published by his office. Israeli settlements in the West Bank - considered illegal under international law - are seen as a major obstacle to a lasting peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Katz framed the move as a direct rebuke to Macron and others pushing for recognition of a Palestinian state. Macron has recently stepped up his statements in support of the Palestinians, asserting on Friday that recognition of a Palestinian state, with some conditions, was "not only a moral duty, but a political necessity". Macron confirmed he would personally attend a conference France is co-hosting with Saudi Arabia at the UN in June aimed at reviving the two-state solution. Israel on Friday accused the French president of undertaking a "crusade against the Jewish state". The foreign ministry said that "instead of applying pressure on the jihadist terrorists, Macron wants to reward them with a Palestinian state". Negotiations aimed at halting the fighting in Gaza have continued, meanwhile, with the White House announcing Thursday that Israel had "signed off" on a new ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas. The Palestinian militant group, however, said the deal failed to satisfy its demands, stopping short of rejecting it outright. Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said on Telegram that "after Hamas rejected the deal proposal again - there are no more excuses". "It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one," he said. Israel has not confirmed that it approved the new proposal. Gaza's civil defence agency told AFP that at least 45 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Friday, including seven in a strike targeting a family home in Jabalia in the north. Palestinians sobbed over the bodies of their loved ones at Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital following the strike, AFPTV footage showed. "These were civilians and were sleeping at their homes," said neighbour Mahmud al-Ghaf, describing "children in pieces". "Stop the war!" said Mahmud Nasr, who lost relatives. "We do not want anything from you, just stop the war." The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Jabalia strike, but said separately that the air force had hit "dozens of targets" across Gaza over the past day. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday that at least 4,058 people had been killed since Israel resumed major operations on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,321, mostly civilians. Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead. - AFP
Egypt Independent
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
‘War without limits': Aid agencies sound the alarm as Israel's Gaza blockade enters a second month
CNN — One month after Israel cut off humanitarian aid from the Gaza Strip, aid agencies say the humanitarian situation there has deteriorated dangerously, with the plight of two million civilians worsened by intensive Israeli military operations. The United Nations and several NGOs, as well as civilians in Gaza who have spoken with CNN, say hunger is spreading, there is less access to clean water, and fleas infest makeshift displacement camps. The problems that have plagued the territory's population for the last 18 months have been accentuated by the renewed assault launched by the Israeli military in March, which has included several evacuation orders. The Israeli government shut down the supply of food and other humanitarian aid into Gaza ahead of the offensive, in a bid to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages and impose new conditions on the extension of the ceasefire. Israel has also said Hamas intercepts and diverts shipments of humanitarian aid into Gaza, a charge the US confirmed last May. More than 280,000 people have been displaced in the past two weeks, and two-thirds of Gaza territory are now no-go areas, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Dislocated Palestinian refugees move among the rubble to find a safe place as Israel's attacks continue on Gaza on Sunday. Abood Abusalama/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images Assem Al-Nabeeh, a spokesperson for the Gaza City municipality, told CNN that after several recent evacuation orders 'people are literally being displaced everywhere, on main roads, in public parks, near garbage dumps, in squares, and even in buildings that are on the verge of collapse.' 'Even before the latest evacuation orders, only 40% of the city had access to water,' Al-Nabeeh said. He estimated that 175,000 tonnes of waste had accumulated across the city. The senior OCHA official for Palestinian territories, Jonathan Whittall, said earlier this week that a 'war without limits' was underway in Gaza. In a report released Friday, OCHA said: 'Gaza faces renewed risk of hunger and malnutrition as the full cargo blockade, now entering the second month, almost halts all flour distribution and shuts all subsidized bakeries.' The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday that all 25 subsidized bakeries across Gaza had closed because of a lack of cooking gas and flour. It added that more than one million people were left without food parcels in March, and while the supply of hot meals was continuing, current 'supplies will last two weeks maximum.' The Israeli agency in charge of coordinating aid deliveries into Gaza says there must be ' a structured monitoring and aid entry mechanism' to prevent Hamas from seizing humanitarian supplies and to assure organizations' operations stay 'neutral and impartial.' The agency – COGAT – said a new mechanism it is preparing would 'support aid organizations, enhance oversight and accountability, and ensure that assistance reaches the civilian population in need, rather than being diverted and stolen by Hamas.' The mechanism has been presented to international aid organizations, according to an official in COGAT, but its use is contingent upon a ceasefire deal or a change in government directive. In the meantime, huge amounts of aid sit outside Gaza. WFP says that some 89,000 tonnes of food waits outside Gaza, while food scarcity inside is driving up prices dramatically. A bag of wheat flour costs 450% more than it did a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, OCHA says access to water remains 'severely constrained' – with two-thirds of Gazan households unable to access six liters (around 200 fluid ounces) of drinking water per day. After an improvement in water production and supply during the recent ceasefire, agencies are now struggling to repair and maintain infrastructure. Trucks carrying humanitarian aid line up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing. AFP via Getty Images That's also affecting sanitation in areas increasingly crowded with displaced people. 'Sanitation conditions across the Gaza Strip remain alarming,' OCHA said, with makeshift displacement sites on the coast infested with fleas and mites. The Biden administration repeatedly pressured the Israeli government to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, including pausing a shipment of bombs over concern about the civilian population in the coastal enclave. But that pressure has all but vanished under the Trump administration. Gavin Kelleher of the Norwegian Refugee Council said at the end of March that 'more than a million people remain in dire need of tents in Gaza' but his organization had 'almost nothing left to distribute despite still seeing these massive forced transfers happening every day.' 'Many people, with no alternative shelter, are staying in structurally unsound and damaged buildings, where incidents of buildings collapsing on top of men, women and children continue to be recorded,' Kelleher added. In recent weeks, an average of 100 children have been killed or maimed daily in Gaza, according to the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF. The agency's executive director, Catherine Russell, said the strip's children had 'again been plunged into a cycle of deadly violence and deprivation.' UNICEF says it and other agencies 'have been unable to provide clothing and other essential items even to the most vulnerable of displaced children who only have the clothes they are wearing.' As casualties have risen since the ceasefire ended, the World Health Organization reports that Gaza's hospitals are overwhelmed with patients. It said Al-Shifa Hospital in the north of the territory was dealing with 400 people daily, nearly triple its average of 140 before hostilities resumed on 18 March. Dr. Fadel Naeem, director of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, told CNN his facility was overwhelmed by the number of bodies and injured people arriving. On April 3 alone, he said, 128 injured individuals had arrived 'and the hospital simply lacks the capacity to handle this volume due to the ongoing blockade on the health sector.' Naeem said the hospital had been forced to 'prioritize,' by, for example, performing surgeries only for those who were more likely to survive. 'Tragically, while waiting for care, some of the wounded died due to a lack of resources, operating rooms, and medical staff,' Naeem added. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency, which leads UN efforts in Palestinian territories, said 'People are starving, chaos & looting have returned… People are exhausted as they continue to be locked up in a tiny piece of land.'
