Weaponisation of food in Gaza constitutes war crime, UN rights office says
The UN human rights office said on Tuesday the 'weaponisation' of food for civilians in Gaza constitutes a war crime, in its strongest remarks yet on a new model of aid distribution run by an Israeli-backed organisation.
More than 410 people have been killed by gunshots or shells fired by the Israeli military while trying to reach distribution sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since it began work in late May, UN human rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters at a Geneva press briefing.
The death toll has been independently verified by his office, he added.
'Desperate, hungry people in Gaza continue to face the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risk being killed while trying to get food,' he said, describing the system as 'Israel's militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism'.
'The weaponisation of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime and, under certain circumstances, may constitute elements of other crimes under international law.'
Asked whether Israel was guilty of that war crime, he said: 'The legal qualification needs to be made by a court of law.'
Israel rejects war crimes charges in Gaza and blames Hamas fighters for harm to civilians for operating among them, which the fighters deny.
Reuters
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Daily Maverick
a day ago
- Daily Maverick
Letter to Mahlamba Ndlopfu: Diabetes is on the march, ushering in death like a thief in the night
Ah, Chief Dwasaho. I had hoped, perhaps naïvely, that a ceasefire to end the Israel-American war on Iran might lift my spirits, but it seems I remain a child of a lesser God. While the world held its breath following Iran's reciprocal attack on the American military base in Qatar, I found myself wrestling anew with my own silent killer, type 2 diabetes — one I had thought was buried for good beneath tablets and self-injections. Before the Israel-US-Iran skirmishes, I had already made a poor judgement call. I accepted Novo Nordisk's courtesy to attend the 85th American Diabetes Association (ADA) Congress, which concluded this past Monday in Chicago, US. I should have known better. The word 'diabetes' still sends a shiver down my spine. Twelve years of sweat, blood and tears have passed since I first heard that diagnosis. The years have blurred into struggle, yet hope persists, fragile as the fleeting peace we celebrate in far-off lands, uncertain how long it will last. I am lying, my leader; I was hoping that the science boffins at the ADA would announce a breakthrough for a cure that will improve my blood glucose without my having to lift a finger. I have tried better diets and newer drug regimens, and now I find myself among the ranks of those who rely on injectables. The nightmare worsens with each fasting glucose test. Let the facts speak. Our local figures show that non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, are now a leading cause of death and disability in the country, and their burden is growing at an unprecedented rate. According to the Department of Health's 2023/24 Annual Report, non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and mental health disorders have increased by 58.7% between 2002 and 2022. Sadly, diabetes has now overtaken tuberculosis (TB) as the leading cause of death among non-communicable diseases. At a 2024 World Diabetes Day event, Dr Zaheer Bayat from Helen Joseph Hospital raised the alarm. Bayat said South Africa's growing obesity epidemic was fuelling type 2 diabetes, now increasingly diagnosed in children and young adults. There were at least 5.6 million people with diabetes in South Africa in 2019, according to advisory firm Percept. That number was projected to rise to 5.7 million by 2025 and to 7.2 million by 2030. Stubborn digits The numbers, those stubborn digits that know neither spin doctor nor party whip, do not lie. We are bleeding silently, internally and nationally. The sugar monster, better known by its formal name, diabetes mellitus, is no longer content with its rank as a lifestyle disease. It has launched a full-blown missile attack on our health system and our households. It is now a national emergency, stalking us in rural clinics and urban e-hailing taxis alike. Once upon a time, we held nightly vigils for HIV and tuberculosis. Now, as the clocks of modernity tick on, diabetes tightens its grip, especially in our rural hamlets where the old enemies once reigned supreme. In these forgotten corners of the republic, a new horror dawns: poorly managed diabetes now trumps HIV and TB in its cruelty, ushering in death like a thief in a night clinic. I know this not from theory, my leader, but from the red soil of my own family. My beloved mother, MaMlambo, who had a warm embrace and an iron will, lost her fight against Covid-19. But it was diabetes that signed her death certificate. A year later, my middle brother followed. He lived in Ulundi, a place where health services are as scarce as ANC renewal. Fifty years young, armed only with faith and insulin, he too succumbed to the silent killer. His children were double orphaned, their mother long claimed by the pandemic of HIV/Aids and poverty — a lethal cocktail. I fear the very word, my leader, diabetes. I do not whisper it; I wince. For me, the battlefield is not some sterile clinic with motivational posters and lukewarm nurses. It is the blood test queue, the quarterly HbA1c verdict, and the trembling hand reaching for a glucometer. That number, calculated over 90 bitter days, is both my confessor and executioner. It tells me what the doctors won't: that I am losing ground. Once, I held the line. My glucose levels were stable. I marched to the beat of clean eating and regular medical check-ups. Then came Covid-19 twice. Each wave carved a little more of me away. The sugars spiked. Early this year, pneumonia arrived like an uninvited third cousin. The steroid treatment, my lifesaver, became the sugar saboteur. And so, I joined the ranks of the injectables. But let us not pretend the enemy arrived with the pandemic. No, diabetes had long danced in my bloodstream, chuckling as I downed beers in smoky taverns. What I called me-time was, in fact, a slow suicide. I drove while low on sugar, thinking I was only tipsy. I crashed into a gate in Sunnyside, barely avoiding the wrath of a mob thanks to a security guard who knew the signs. He had seen this sugar demon before, in his own brother's eyes. Years before that, I blacked out at the wheel and took out an electricity pole. Darkness descended on the neighbourhood, but it was the light of truth that hit me hardest: I had to stop drinking and driving. Four years clean now, 12 months without a car, but still I fight for control of this body. Medical A-team This is despite having a medical A-team, including a GP, endocrinologist, dietician, and private medical aid; I remain a man under siege. Diabetes is a cunning general. You never win. You negotiate, you stall, you beg. It requires 'unconditional surrender' to its management routine. My leader, this is not a lifestyle issue. This is war. Thus, we must do more than count corpses and preach wellness from podiums. We must fight for newer medicine that lasts the month, clinics that open on weekends, and nurses who do not yawn through their shifts. We need political will, not wellness seminars. Unfortunately, the war is here. It is in my blood. It is scorching our land. Let me tell you, my leader, there is hope, though. The science community is united in fighting diabetes and its twin evil, obesity. This week at the ADA Congress, Novo Nordisk, the Danish healthcare giant, released fresh results from the Step-Up trial in Chicago. The trial, led by Novo Nordisk and international researchers, tested a higher dose of semaglutide — the active ingredient in the weight loss drugs Wegovy and the type 2 diabetes injectable Ozempic — on people living with obesity but without diabetes. The results show that this 7.2 milligramme dose delivered an average weight loss of 21% over 72 weeks, with a third of participants shedding at least 25% of their body weight. The safety profile remained consistent with that of previous semaglutide trials, with most side-effects being mild to moderate gastrointestinal issues that resolved over time. The Danish firm now plans to file for a label update in the European Union and other markets where Wegovy is approved. I have asked: When is South Africa's turn? Soon. I am told. Why is the scientific community so fixated on obesity, you ask? The answer lies in the complex relationship between health and suffering that links obesity to diabetes. Scientists aren't merely chasing accolades or enriching their pockets through suffering; they are pursuing the root cause of the diabetes epidemic. The link between obesity and this deadly disease is the scientific gospel. The results released this week serve as a stark reminder that, in the battle against diabetes, the war must be fought first on the battlefield of obesity. Novo Nordisk is not just selling a drug; it is offering hope, a lifeline to those drowning in the flood of excess weight and its deadly consequence, uncontrolled diabetes, like me. Instead of hosting dialogues and unveiling the Eminent Persons Group, we should focus on reforming the healthcare system and working closely with scientists to fast-track the introduction of new, life-saving drugs into our public health system. If not for me, please do it for MaMlambo, a faith healer who gave of herself to save humanity and 5.6 million people facing death daily. Till next week, my man — send me to a clinical trial near me. DM
TimesLIVE
2 days ago
- TimesLIVE
UN flags cannabis explosion in Africa on World Drug Day
The UN's 2025 World Drug Report, released on Thursday, reveals that 244-million people used cannabis in 2023, making it by far the most widely used drug globally. That figure represents 4.6% of the world's population aged between 15 and 64. According to the report, cannabis use has increased by 34% over the past decade, with the highest rates seen in North America, where 20.2% of people used cannabis last year. This information comes as the world marks International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, commonly known as World Drug Day. The day, which is observed annually on June 26, raises awareness of the global drug crisis and calls for multilateral co-operation in prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. The theme for 2025, 'Break the Cycle. #StopOrganisedCrime,' urges long-term, focused action to disrupt the deadly link between drug trafficking and organised crime, both of which fuel violence, corruption and regional instability. The report revealed that about one woman for every nine men uses cannabis, highlighting a significant gender disparity in consumption patterns. It also showed that Southern, West and Central Africa recorded especially high use of cannabis, with about 10% of the population aged 15—64 reporting cannabis use in the past year. The report revealed that Africa also accounts for a large share of global drug enforcement activity. 'Africa accounted for 44% of the total cannabis herb and resin seized worldwide in 2023, ahead of the Americas, Asia and Europe,' the report stated. It said that cannabis remains the most common drug behind treatment admissions across the continent. 'Cannabis remains the main drug of concern for 32% of people in treatment in Africa. The majority of those seeking treatment for drug use disorders in Africa are under the age of 35, with cannabis and opioids being the substances most often involved,' the UN said. Africa is also a significant trafficking corridor with West Africa for cocaine, East Africa for heroin, and much of the continent for cannabis, which is largely produced in the region. The UN report estimated that 316-million people worldwide used a drug (excluding alcohol and tobacco) in 2023, which is 6% of the global population and up from 5.2% in 2013. The report broke down other uses of substance abuse in the world showing that 61-million used opioids, 31-million used amphetamines, 25-million used cocaine and 21-million used ecstasy-type substances. Among women globally, drug use rates show that 24% used cannabis, 14% used opioids, 25% used cocaine, 29% used amphetamines and 32% used ecstasy. 'Cannabis accounts for a substantial share of drug-related harm globally. An estimated 42% of drug use disorder cases worldwide are cannabis use disorders. In 2023, 41% of countries reported cannabis as the main drug of concern for people in drug treatment,' the report said. South Africa has seen its own dramatic changes, as in 2023 authorities destroyed large quantities of seized drugs, including 700kg of cannabis with a street value of R21m, intercepted in Durban Harbour. These enforcement actions are occurring alongside major legal shifts as in 2018 a Constitutional Court ruling decriminalising private use, possession and cultivation of cannabis in South Africa. The Cannabis for Private Purposes Act of 2024 formalised the legal framework around personal use. And recently as a response to public pressure, the government also lifted its ban on cannabis and hemp foodstuffs, a move welcomed by civil society groups and the local cannabis industry after the health minister Aaron Motsoaledi had temporarily banned it.
TimesLIVE
2 days ago
- TimesLIVE
Israeli attacks kill at least 21 people in Gaza, say medics
Israeli gunfire and air strikes killed at least 21 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, local health authorities said, as mediators appealed to Israel and Hamas to seek a resumption of ceasefire talks to end the war. Local health authorities said an Israeli air strike killed at least nine people at a school housing displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan suburb in Gaza City, while another strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave. Three other people were killed by Israeli gunfire and dozens were wounded as crowds awaited UN aid trucks along a main route in central Gaza, medics said, the latest in a series of multiple fatalities at aid distribution points. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Thursday's incidents. Israel says it is seeking to eliminate militants from Hamas, which attacked southern Israel from Gaza in 2023, and free hostages still held by the group. The new deaths come as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the US, appealed to the warring parties to hold new ceasefire talks, but no time was set for a new round, according to Hamas sources.
