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Kuwait Times
23-07-2025
- Health
- Kuwait Times
Children starve to death in Gaza, UN slams ‘horror show'
GAZA: The head of Gaza's largest hospital on Tuesday said 21 children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the past three days, while the Zionist entity pressed a devastating assault. Health authorities announced 77 Palestinians were killed and 376 others were injured in the past 24 hours as a result of the Zionist occupation forces' continued war of extermination on the Gaza Strip. The Zionist military campaign in Gaza has killed 59,106 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Kuwait slams Zionist blockade Kuwait reiterated its condemnation and denunciation of the unjust blockade imposed by the Zionist occupation on Gaza Strip, a statement issued by the ministry of foreign affairs said Monday. The statement added the unjust blockage is a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, and disregards relevant international legitimacy resolutions, particularly Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2417, which condemns the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in conflict situations. The ministry expressed the Kuwait's condemnation of these grave and brutal crimes, including the killing of food seekers. The statement stressed the need for the international community and the Security Council to fulfill their legal and moral responsibilities and work to ensure the implementation of UN resolutions, lift the blockade imposed on the people in Gaza Strip and to allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid. The ministry also called to halt the genocide and systematic starvation of the Palestinian people. Gaza's population of more than two million people is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with residents frequently killed as they try to collect humanitarian aid at a handful of distribution points. 'Twenty-one children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in various areas across the Gaza Strip,' Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, told reporters. Abu Salmiya told reporters that new cases of malnutrition and starvation were arriving at Gaza's remaining functioning hospitals 'every moment'. 'We are heading towards alarming numbers of deaths due to the starvation inflicted on the people of Gaza,' he added. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Gaza a 'horror show' in a speech on Tuesday, with 'a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times'. In Gaza City, six-week-old Yousef's lifeless body lay limp on a hospital table, his skin stretched over protruding ribs and a bandage where a drip had been inserted into his tiny arm. Doctors said the cause of death was starvation. Yousef's family couldn't find baby formula to feed him, said his uncle, Adham Al-Safadi. 'You can't get milk anywhere, and if you do find any it's $100 for a tub,' he said, looking at his dead nephew. Other Palestinians who died of hunger over the last day were also children, including 13-year-old Abdulhamid Al-Ghalban, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis. For the first time since the war began, Palestinian officials say dozens are now dying of hunger. At least 101 people are known to have died of hunger during the conflict, according to Palestinian officials, including 80 children, most of them in just the last few weeks. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which supported hundreds of thousands of Gazans in the first year of the war, said its aid stocks were now depleted and some of its own staff were starving. 'Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left,' its director Jan Egeland told Reuters. '(The Zionist entity) is not yielding. They just want to paralyze our work,' he said. The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said on Tuesday that its staff, as well as doctors and humanitarian workers, were fainting on duty in Gaza due to hunger and exhaustion. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that images of civilians killed during the distribution of aid were 'unbearable' and urged the Zionist entity to deliver on pledges to improve the situation. On Tuesday, men and boys lugged sacks of flour past destroyed buildings and tarpaulins in Gaza City, grabbing what food they could from aid warehouses. 'We haven't eaten for five days,' said Mohammed Jundia. 'Hospitals are already overwhelmed by the number of casualties from gunfire. They can't provide much more help for hunger-related symptoms because of food and medicine shortages,' said Khalil Al-Deqran, a spokesperson for the health ministry. Deqran said some 600,000 people were suffering from malnutrition, including at least 60,000 pregnant women. Symptoms among those going hungry include dehydration and anemia, he said. Baby formula in particular is in critically short supply, according to aid groups, doctors and residents. Chaotic scenes have become frequent at aid distribution areas since the US- and Zionist-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began overseeing aid operations. The UN on Tuesday said Zionist forces had killed over 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the GHF began its operations. 'As of July 21, we have recorded 1,054 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food; 766 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites and 288 near UN and other humanitarian organizations' aid convoys,' UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told AFP. Earlier Tuesday, Gaza's civil defense agency said Zionist strikes had killed 15 people, after the World Health Organization said the Zionist entity attacked its facilities amid its expanding ground operations. Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP Zionist strikes on the Al-Shati camp west of Gaza City had killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 50. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once during the conflict and the Al-Shati camp — on the Mediterranean coast — hosts thousands of people displaced from the north in tents and makeshift shelters. Raed Bakr, 30, lives with his three children and said he heard 'a massive explosion' at about 1:40 am on Tuesday (2240 GMT Monday), which blew their tent away. 'I felt like I was in a nightmare. Fire, dust, smoke and body parts flying through the air, dirt everywhere. The children were screaming,' Bakr, whose wife was killed last year, told AFP. Reports of the latest death toll came as the Roman Catholic church's most senior cleric in the Holy Land said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was 'morally unacceptable'. 'We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal,' Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told a news conference in Jerusalem after visiting Gaza. His visit came after a Zionist army strike on the only Catholic church in the territory killed three people last week, prompting Pope Leo XIV to condemn the 'barbarity' of the war and the 'indiscriminate use of force'. The World Health Organization also sharply criticized the Zionist military. The UN agency's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accused troops of entering its staff residence, and forcing women and children to evacuate, as they handcuffed, stripped and interrogated male staff at gunpoint. The latest criticism of the Zionist entity came as its forces expanded ground operations in Deir el-Balah following intense shelling of the area in central Gaza on Monday. The civil defence agency's Bassal said two people were killed in Deir el-Balah. Guterres said 'devastation is being layered upon devastation' by the offensive. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were living in the area, which until now had been considered relatively safe. Some 30,000 were living in displacement sites. OCHA said nearly 88 percent of the entire Gaza Strip was now either under evacuation orders or within Zionist militarized zones, forcing the population of 2.4 million into an ever-shrinking space. – Agencies
Arab Times
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab Times
Kuwait reiterates strong rebuke over unjust Israeli siege of Gaza
KUWAIT CITY, July 22, (Agencies): The State of Kuwait reiterated its condemnation and denunciation of the unjust blockade imposed by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip, a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday. The statement added that the unjust blockage is a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, and disregards relevant international legitimacy resolutions, particularly Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2417, which condemns the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in conflict situations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the State of Kuwait's condemnation of these grave and brutal crimes, including the killing of food seekers. The statement stressed the need for the international community and the Security Council to fulfill their legal and moral responsibilities and work to ensure the implementation of UN resolutions, lift the blockade imposed on the people in Gaza Strip, and to allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid. The ministry also called to halt the genocide and systematic starvation on the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, the Arab League held an extraordinary session at the level of permanent representatives on Tuesday to address the ongoing starvation siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. The session, chaired by Jordan and requested by Palestine, focused on the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, particularly the Israeli occupation's deliberate starvation of Gaza's population. Discussions also addressed Israeli occupation plans to establish a so-called 'humanitarian city' in southern Gaza, described during the session as a closed, racially segregated detention zone, which is a continuation of forced mass displacement and genocide. The session further highlighted the grave repercussions of the Israeli occupation's targeting of mosques and churches, particularly efforts to strip the Hebron Municipality of its authority over the Ibrahimi Mosque in favor of a so-called 'religious council' affiliated with illegal settlements. The Council also reviewed possible political, legal, and diplomatic measures at both the Arab and international levels to confront these serious violations. Kuwait was represented at the session by its Permanent Representative to the Arab League, Ambassador Talal Al-Mutairi. Israeli troops for the first time Monday pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based, in what appeared to be the latest effort to carve up the Palestinian territory with military corridors. Deir al-Balah is the only Gaza city that has not seen major ground operations or suffered widespread devastation in 21 months of war, leading to speculation that the Hamas militant group holds large numbers of hostages there. The main group representing hostages' families said it was 'shocked and alarmed' by the incursion and demanded answers from Israeli leaders. Israel says the seizure of territory in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages, but it is a major point of contention in ongoing ceasefire talks. The U.N. food agency, meanwhile, accused Israeli forces of firing on a crowd of Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid over the weekend. The Gaza Health Ministry called it one of the deadliest attacks on aid-seekers in the war that has driven the territory to the brink of famine. In the latest sign of international frustration, the United Kingdom, France and 23 other Western-aligned countries issued a statement saying 'the war in Gaza must end now.' They harshly criticized Israel's restrictions on humanitarian aid and called for the release of the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza. Associated Press reporters heard explosions and saw smoke rising from parts of the city that were ordered evacuated on Sunday. The Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said it was the first time ground troops had operated in the area. A man living in the evacuation zone, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said Israel dropped pamphlets at dawn ordering people to evacuate. Two hours later, tanks rolled into the area. He said his 62-year-old father, who had spent the night elsewhere, fled from house to house as Israeli forces moved in and saw them flattening structures with bulldozers and tanks. Both men managed to leave the evacuation zone. The World Health Organization said Israeli forces raided its main staff residence in Deir al-Balah, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward the coast. 'Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint,' the U.N. health agency said in a statement. It said two staff and two family members were detained, with three later released and one still being held. The WHO said its main warehouse in the city, which is in the evacuation zone, was damaged by an explosion and a fire, hurting the agency's ability to help hospitals and emergency medical teams. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric had earlier said two U.N. guesthouses in Deir al-Balah were damaged by shrapnel. He said the cause was still being investigated but that heavy Israeli airstrikes had been reported in the area. Local and international staff will continue to work there, he said. The military declined to say if it had ordered the evacuation of aid groups based in the city, saying only that it maintains continuous contact with them and facilitates their relocation when necessary. Separately, the military announced that a 19-year-old soldier was killed and an officer was severely wounded in combat in southern Gaza. Tens of thousands of people have sought refuge in Deir al-Balah during repeated waves of mass displacement in Gaza. The U.N. humanitarian coordinator says 87.8% of Gaza is now under evacuation orders or inside Israeli military zones, 'leaving 2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12 per cent of the Strip, where essential services have collapsed.' Israel has taken over large areas of Gaza and split the territory with corridors stretching from the border to the sea as it seeks to pressure Hamas to release more hostages. In response to the Deir al-Balah incursion, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum warned in its statement that 'the people of Israel will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangered the hostages - both the living and the deceased. No one will be able to claim they didn't know what was at stake.' Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas, and it accuses the group of prolonging the war because Hamas has not accepted Israel's terms for a ceasefire. The World Food Program, in a rare condemnation, said the crowd surrounding its convoy in northern Gaza on Sunday 'came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire.' It said 'countless lives' were lost. A photographer working with the AP counted 51 bodies at two hospitals. The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 80 people were killed. Israel's military said it fired warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat' and questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians. It declined to comment on the WFP statement. Hundreds of people have been killed while seeking food in recent weeks, both from U.N. convoys and separate aid sites run by an Israelibacked group that has been mired in controversy. The Palestinian death toll from the war has climbed to more than 59,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Gaza health officials said at least 18 people, including three women and five children, were killed in Israeli strikes overnight and into Monday.
Associated Press
15-04-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Sudan: Two Years of Armed Conflict and the World's First Famine in Seven Years
Published by Action Against Hunger. April 15, 2025 /3BL/ - Today marks two years since the beginning of the armed conflict in Sudan, which has escalated into one of the world's largest humanitarian crises, with 30.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. The Famine Review Committee of the IPC system evaluated in August 2024 that Zamzam camp in North Darfur reached the famine threshold, making it the first formal declaration of famine in more than seven years. Now, 26 million people are facing acute levels of food insecurity in Sudan. An estimated 12.1 million women and girls in Sudan need support against gender-based and sexual violence, but access to medical and psychosocial care is limited due to the ongoing conflict. Women and girls are especially likely to be displaced from their homes to escape threats of such violence and, in 2024, they represented over 50% of Sudan's refugees. Conflict-related challenges have inhibited humanitarian organizations' ability to reach populations in need. 'It has become very difficult to work in Sudan. We are worse off than yesterday, but we will continue to work to make the situation better,' says Action Against Hunger's regional head for Africa, Paloma Martin de Miguel. Action Against Hunger reminds all parties to the conflict that prevention of sufficient food aid delivery, including attacks on food production and distribution infrastructure, are in direct violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2417, which should be respected. Action Against Hunger has been present in Sudan since 2018 and has scaled up efforts to address this unprecedented humanitarian crisis. From April 2023 to December 2024, Action Against Hunger's teams supported 816,943 people with health and nutrition supplies in 15 locations across Blue Nile, Central Darfur, Red Sea, South Kordofan and White Nile. Interventions such as protection measures and medical and psychosocial support were provided to 11,953 people affected by gender-based violence. Action Against Hunger urges the following actions to be taken immediately *** Action Against Hunger leads the global movement to end hunger. We innovate solutions, advocate for change, and reach 21 million people every year with proven hunger prevention and treatment programs. As a nonprofit that works across 59 countries, our 8,900 dedicated staff members partner with communities to address the root causes of hunger, including climate change, conflict, inequity, and emergencies. We strive to create a world free from hunger, for everyone, for good.
