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Roya News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Roya News
UN warns of looming starvation in besieged Sudanese city of Al-Fasher
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has issued a dire warning that families trapped in the besieged Sudanese city of Al-Fasher are at imminent risk of starvation, amid severe food shortages and a deteriorating humanitarian crisis, the BBC reported. For over a year, WFP has been unable to deliver aid to Al-Fasher by road, leaving some 250,000 residents cut off from essential supplies. The city, located in Sudan's western Darfur region, has been encircled for nearly 16 months by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group attempting to wrest control of the area from the Sudanese army. Local sources have already begun reporting deaths from hunger, as civilians resort to eating animal feed and food waste to stay alive. The WFP said the ongoing conflict has led to skyrocketing food prices and left families without viable means of survival. 'Everyone in Al-Fasher is facing a daily struggle to survive,' said Eric Perdison, WFP's regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa. 'People's coping mechanisms have been completely exhausted by over two years of war. Without immediate and sustained access, lives will be lost.' The agency also highlighted the testimony of Sondos, an eight-year-old girl who fled Al-Fasher with five relatives. 'In Al-Fasher there was a lot of shelling and hunger. Only hunger and bombs,' she said. Her family had survived for weeks on millet alone. Although WFP has food aid ready to deploy, previous convoys have been attacked, making safe delivery difficult. A shipment sent in early June was struck, with the RSF and the army trading blame for the assault. Since then, the UN has been pushing for a temporary ceasefire to allow humanitarian access to the city. The blockade is part of a broader civil war that erupted in April 2023, now described by the UN as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Over 150,000 people have been killed nationwide, and approximately 12 million have been displaced from their homes. The conflict has also prompted mounting accusations of genocide in the Darfur region. Despite calls for a week-long humanitarian truce in Al-Fasher, it remains unclear whether either side will honor a ceasefire or facilitate a new aid mission. Meanwhile, WFP officials stress the urgency of the moment. 'We are ready to move,' said a spokesperson. 'But without guarantees of safe passage, we risk more loss, of food, of aid workers, and above all, of life.'
Al Jazeera
19-07-2025
- General
- Al Jazeera
Starvation is killing my nieces and I cannot do anything to save them
I have a big Palestinian family. I grew up in a household full of children: We are eight brothers and sisters. As my older siblings started getting married and having children, our family grew even bigger. Every weekend, our family home would fill up with children's laughter. I used to wait impatiently for Thursday to come, the day my married sisters would come to visit us with their children. My father would be out shopping, my mother – busy cooking her daughters' favourite dishes, and I would be playing with the kids. I have nine nieces and nephews in total, and I have beautiful memories playing with and cuddling each one of them. They are the treasure of my family because a home without children is like a tree without leaves. Despite the difficult life of occupation and siege in Gaza, my sisters and brothers did their best to provide for their children and give them the best opportunity to study and pursue their dreams. Then the genocide started. The relentless bombing, the constant displacement, the starvation. I do not have children of my own, but I feel the excruciating pain of my sisters when they face the cries of their hungry children. 'I no longer have the strength to endure. I am tired of thinking about how to fill my children's empty stomachs. What can I prepare for them?' my sister Samah shared recently. She has seven children: Abdulaziz, 20, Sondos, 17, Raghad, 15, Ali, 11, twins Mahmoud and Lana, 8, and Tasneem, 3. Like most other Palestinian families, they have been displaced so many times that they have lost most of their possessions. The last time they saw their home in Shujayea neighbourhood, its walls were blown off, but its roof was still standing on the pillars. The plot of land in front of their house, which was planted with olive and lemon trees, had been bulldozed. Samah's family has relied on canned food since the beginning of the war. Since Israel blocked aid in early March and aid distribution stopped, they have struggled to find cans of beans or chickpeas. Now, they are lucky if they manage to find a bowl of lentil soup or a loaf of bread. Day after day, Samah has had to watch her children suffer, losing weight and falling sick. Lana is suffering the most. She is 110cm (3 feet 7 inches), but weighs just 13kg (28.7 pounds). Her parents took her to a clinic where she was examined and confirmed to have severe malnutrition. She was registered in a programme for the distribution of nutritional supplements, but she has not received anything yet. There are none available. Lana's yellow body is so weak that she is unable to stand for long periods or walk in the event that they are suddenly forced to flee. All she wants is to sleep and sit without being able to play with her brother. I cannot believe what has become of her: she used to be a red-cheeked girl full of energy, who used to play with her siblings all the time. We regularly hear news about children dying from malnutrition, and this is Samah's worst fear: that she could lose her daughter. Despite struggling to feed her family, Samah refuses to allow her husband, Mohammed, to go to one of the aid distribution points of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. She knows this is a death trap. She would not have him risk his life for a parcel of food he may not even be able to obtain. Amid the starvation, my other sister, Asma, gave birth to her second child, Wateen. She is now two months old, and because of a lack of nutrition, she is suffering from jaundice. I have only seen Wateen in photos. She weighed two and a half kilograms (5.5 pounds) when she was born. She looked yellow and sleepy in all her photos. The doctors said her mother, who is breastfeeding, cannot provide her with the nutrients she needs because she herself is undernourished. Wateen needs to be fed with highly saturated formula milk, which is not available because Israel has been blocking the delivery of all baby formula into Gaza. Asmaa is now worried that Wateen may develop malnutrition because she is unable to provide her with nutritious milk. 'I'm melting like a candle! When will this suffering end?' she told me recently. My heart is tearing apart when I talk with my sisters and hear about their pain and the hunger that is ravaging their children. The Israeli occupation forces have already killed more than 18,000 children since it embarked on the genocide. Some 1.1 million are still surviving. Israel wants to make sure they have no future. This is not an unfortunate consequence of war; it is a war strategy. Malnutrition is not just a severe loss of weight. It is a devastating condition that damages the body's vital internal organs, such as the liver, kidneys, and stomach. It affects the growth and development of children and results in higher predisposition to disease, learning difficulties, cognitive impairment and psychological issues. By starving Palestinian children, depriving them of education and health care, the occupier aims to achieve one goal: creating a fragile generation, weak in mind and constitution, unable to think, and with no horizon other than searching for food, drink, and shelter. This means a generation that is unable to defend the right to its land and stand up to the occupier. A generation that does not understand the existential struggle of its people. The war plan is clear, and the goal has been stated publicly by Israeli officials. The question now is, will the world let Israel destroy Gaza's children? The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
