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Indian Express
6 days ago
- Health
- Indian Express
Over 100 aid agencies say Gaza at risk of mass starvation after 10 more deaths reported in a day
More than 100 international aid agencies are warning that Gaza is on the brink of mass starvation, with doctors reporting record levels of acute malnutrition, children dying of hunger, and humanitarian workers joining food lines. In a joint statement, 109 organisations including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Oxfam, and Save the Children said their staff are now 'wasting away' alongside the people they are trying to help. 'As the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families,' the statement read. 'With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.' The warnings come as Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry reported 10 more deaths from malnutrition in the past 24 hours, bringing the total since Sunday to 43. The UN says people are collapsing from hunger in the streets, while hospitals are overwhelmed with cases of starvation. Children tell aid workers they want to go to heaven 'because at least heaven has food.' Dr Ahmad al-Farra, head of paediatrics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said his unit had no food for three days. 'We were afraid we would reach this critical point — and now we have,' he told the BBC. Some children, he said, died from starvation; others were too weak to absorb nutrients even if food was available. The World Health Organization estimates nearly 1,00,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and need immediate treatment. Israel, which controls access to Gaza, has denied responsibility for the shortages. It imposed a total blockade in March, then resumed military operations two weeks later. Though the blockade has been partially eased, the situation has only worsened. Since May 27, the UN says more than 1,050 Palestinians have been killed trying to access food, including 766 near four aid sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the US and protected by American private security firms. Another 288 have died near UN and other aid convoys. Most of Gaza's population has now been displaced and is crammed into just 12 per cent of the territory — areas not covered by Israeli evacuation orders or controlled by the military. Only 28 aid lorries are entering Gaza per day on average. 'Tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched' both outside and inside Gaza, the organisations said, because aid workers are blocked from accessing or distributing them. Israel says it is facilitating aid and released footage showing hundreds of lorries waiting at the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings. It blames the UN for not collecting supplies, citing 'collection bottlenecks' as the main problem. Over the past two months, according to Israel's Cogat agency, 4,500 aid lorries have entered Gaza, including 2,500 tonnes of baby food. But the UN says it is unable to collect the aid due to a lack of Israeli authorisation, badly damaged roads, fuel shortages, and criminal looting. A major concern is that Palestinians are being shot at while trying to collect supplies. 'Despite repeated assurances that troops would not engage or be present,' civilians continue to come under fire, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said. The aid agencies are calling on governments to take immediate and decisive action: to demand a permanent ceasefire, lift all restrictions, open land crossings, restore a UN-led distribution system, and stop the transfer of weapons. 'We cannot continue to hope that current arrangements will work,' they said. On Monday, foreign ministers of the UK and 27 other countries called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza. Israel's foreign ministry dismissed the statement as 'disconnected from reality.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
More than 100 humanitarian groups warn of mass starvation in Gaza
More than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups are warning of mass starvation in Gaza and pressing for governments to take action. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam are among the signatories of a joint statement that says their colleagues and the people they serve are "wasting away". Israel, which controls the entry of all supplies into Gaza, denies it is responsible for the increasingly severe food shortages. The organisations' warning comes as the territory's Hamas-run health ministry said another 10 Palestinians had died as a result of malnutrition in the last 24 hours. That brings the number of such deaths across Gaza since Sunday to 43, according to the ministry. The UN has reported that hospitals have admitted people in a state of severe exhaustion caused by a lack of food, and that others were said to be collapsing in the streets. Latest updates from Gaza Gaza health ministry says 33 people died from malnutrition in 48 hours Church leaders return with 'broken hearts' after rare visit to Gaza Bowen: Israel's allies see evidence of war crimes in Gaza mounting up The Today Debate: What can stop the war in Gaza "As the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families," the 109 humanitarian organisations said in the statement published on Wednesday. "With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes." Israel imposed a total blockade of aid deliveries to Gaza at the start of March and resumed its military offensive against Hamas two weeks later, collapsing a two-month ceasefire. It said it wanted to put pressure on the armed group to release its remaining Israeli hostages. Although the blockade was partially eased after almost two months, amid warnings of a looming famine from global experts, the shortages of food, medicine and fuel have worsened. "Doctors report record rates of acute malnutrition, especially among children and older people. Illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration," the humanitarian organisations warned. "An aid worker providing psychosocial support spoke of the devastating impact on children: 'Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least heaven has food.'" The World Health Organization has said almost 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and need treatment as soon as possible. Dr Ahmad al-Farra, the head of paediatrics at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, told the BBC that no food had been available for three days. He said children come to his unit going through varying degrees of starvation. Some were malnourished and died in the hospital's care, he added. Others came with separate health issues that prevented nutrients from being absorbed by their bodies. "We were afraid we would reach this critical point - and now we have," he said. The humanitarian organisations also noted that the UN says it has recorded the killing by the Israeli military of more than 1,050 Palestinians trying to get food since 27 May - the day after the controversial aid distribution mechanism run by the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began operating as an alternative to the UN-led mechanism. According to the UN human rights office, 766 people have been killed in the vicinity of the GHF's four aid sites, which are located inside Israeli military zones and operated by US private security contractors. Another 288 people have been killed near UN and other aid convoys. The Israeli military says its troops deployed near the GHF sites have only fired warning shots and that they do not intentionally shoot civilians, while the GHF says the UN is using "false and misleading" figures from Gaza's health ministry. The humanitarian organisations also said almost all of Gaza's population has been displaced and is now confined to less than 12% of the territory not covered by Israeli evacuation orders or within Israeli militarised zones, making aid operations untenable. And they said an average of only 28 lorry loads of aid is being distributed in Gaza each day. "Just outside Gaza, in warehouses - and even within Gaza itself - tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them." The UN says Israel, as the occupying power, has an obligation under international law to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches all the population in need. Israel insists it acts in accordance with international law and facilitates the entry of aid while ensuring it does not reach Hamas. It has acknowledged recently that there has been a significant drop in supplies reaching Palestinians but blamed UN agencies. Israeli military body Cogat, which co-ordinates the entry of aid into Gaza, wrote on X on Monday that almost 4,500 lorry loads had entered Gaza over the past two months, including 2,500 tonnes of baby food and high-calorie special food for children. It also published drone footage showing what it said was some of the 950 lorry loads of aid waiting to be collected by the UN and other international organisations on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings. "The collection bottleneck remains the main obstacle to maintaining a consistent flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip," Cogat said. The UN has repeatedly said it struggles to get the necessary Israeli authorisation to collect incoming supplies with Gazan drivers from inside the crossing points and transport it through military zones. The ongoing hostilities, badly damaged roads, and severe fuel shortages have exacerbated problems. Criminal looting by armed gangs has also sometimes stopped operations. The UN has said a major problem in recent weeks has been that it is struggling to get commitments from the Israeli military that desperate Palestinians will not be killed while trying to collect aid from its convoys. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told a briefing on Tuesday: "In too many cases where UN teams are permitted by Israel to collect supplies from closed compounds near Gaza's crossings, civilians approaching these trucks come under fire despite repeated assurances that troops would not engage or be present." "This cannot be stressed enough that this unacceptable pattern is the opposite of what facilitating humanitarian operations should look like. Absolutely no one should have to risk their lives to get food." The humanitarian organisations said they "cannot continue to hope that current arrangements will work" and that it is time for governments to "take decisive action". "Demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire; lift all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions; open all land crossings; ensure access to everyone in all of Gaza; reject military-controlled distribution models; restore a principled, UN-led humanitarian response and continue to fund principled and impartial humanitarian organisations." "States must pursue concrete measures to end the siege, such as halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition," they added. On Monday, the foreign ministers of the UK and 27 other countries called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza. Israel's foreign ministry said the statement was "disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas". The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 59,106 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
The National
05-07-2025
- Health
- The National
Israel kills at least 35 Palestinians in Gaza overnight
The number of Palestinians killed includes at least eight aid seekers, Al Jazeera reports. At least two people were killed and others injured on Friday night into Saturday morning in an Israeli bombing which targeted a house in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. Another five people were killed, and others were wounded, in an Israeli attack on al-Shafi School, in the south east of Gaza City. READ MORE: Craig Murray: I've been left questioning real purpose of Alba Party In the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, medical sources reported that seven Palestinians were killed and more than 10 injured after Israeli forces targeted tents sheltering displaced people. East of Khan Younis, in the town of Bani Suhaila, at least four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike, according to sources from the Nasser Medical Complex. Seperately, two people were killed in an Israeli attack on a house in al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. It comes as a new report in the Guardian has found that babies in Gaza are facing death due to critical shortages in baby milk. Dr Ahmad al-Farra, the head of paediatrics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said his ward only had a week's worth of baby milk left, which he is also forced to use for premature babies as specialised formula has run out. al-Farra told the Guardian: "I can't begin to describe how bad things are. Right now, we have enough formula for about one week. READ MORE: Here's why banning Orange marches would be a bad idea "But we also have infants outside the hospital without any access to milk. It's catastrophic." Infant formula has almost disappeared in Gaza due to Israel blocking most aid from entering the enclave. Israel has denied restricting the entry of baby food, including formula. The Guardian said that at least 66 Palestinian children have starved to death in Gaza since October 2023, citing local health authorities. According to a recent report from a UN-backed group of experts, 500,000 people face catastrophic hunger in Gaza, while the rest of the population is experiencing acute food insecurity.
Middle East Eye
05-07-2025
- Health
- Middle East Eye
Hundreds of babies in Gaza at risk of death due to severe shortage of formula milk: Report
Babies in Gaza are facing death as baby milk shortage reaches critical levels, said the Guardian quoting doctors in Gaza. Dr Ahmad al-Farra, the head of paediatrics at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, said only a week's worth of baby milk is remaining in his ward, which he is also forced to use for premature babies as specialised formula ran out. 'I can't begin to describe how bad things are. Right now, we have enough formula for about one week. But we also have infants outside the hospital without any access to milk. It's catastrophic,' al-Farra told the Guardian. Infant formula have almost disappeared in Gaza as Israel allowed minimal amounts of aid into the Strip that lacks the baby milk. The Guardian's report points out that infant deaths are a worrying indicator of the impending famine crisis in Gaza, stating that Israel is blocking the entry of infant formula, and mothers are either dying or suffering from malnutrition. A 27-year-old mother of five living at Al-Nuseirat refugee camp was quoted as saying that she struggled to get her 13-month-old-child some milk. 'The problem of getting milk started since my son's birth, as due to my malnutrition and general weakness I wasn't able to breastfeed my baby,' Hanaa al-Taweel told the Guardian. According to the Guardian, doctors going into Gaza had to pack cans of infant formula in their personal luggage. In one incident, the Israeli authorities confiscated 10 cans of infant formula from the luggage of an American doctor who has recently entered the Strip for a medical duty.
Sydney Morning Herald
25-05-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
A Gaza doctor was at work. At home, nine of her 10 children were killed in an Israeli strike
Cairo: Nine of a doctor's 10 children were among those killed in Israel's renewed military offensive, colleagues and Gaza's Health Ministry said. Alaa Najjar, a paediatrician at Nasser Hospital, was on duty at the time and ran home to find her family's house on fire, Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital's paediatric department, said. Najjar's husband was severely wounded and their only surviving child, an 11-year-old son, was in a critical condition after Friday's strike in the southern city of Khan Younis, Farra said. The dead children ranged in age from seven months to 12 years old. Khalil Al-Dokran, a spokesperson for Gaza's Health Ministry, said two of the children remained under the rubble. The children were among 79 people killed by Israeli strikes who have been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said, a toll that doesn't include hospitals in the battered north that it said are now inaccessible. Israel's military in a statement said it struck suspects operating from a structure next to its forces, and described the area of Khan Younis as a 'dangerous war zone'. It said it had evacuated civilians from the area, and 'the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review'. Loading Earlier on Saturday, a statement said Israel's air force struck over 100 targets throughout Gaza over the past day. The Health Ministry said the new deaths brought the war's toll to 53,901 since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, sparking the 19 months of fighting. The ministry said 3747 people had been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed the war on March 18 to pressure Hamas to accept different ceasefire terms. Its count doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants.
