Hunger must never be 'weapon of war'

RTÉ News​

a day ago

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said food must not be used as a weapon of war amid a severely deteriorating crisis in Gaza, whose population of more than two million is facing famine and malnutrition.
"Conflict continues to spread hunger from Gaza to Sudan and beyond," Mr Guterres told the UN Food Systems Summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa via video link.
"Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war," he said
"Climate change is disrupting harvests, supply chains and humanitarian aid," Mr Guterres added.
The World Health Organization has warned malnutrition in the Palestinian territory has reached "alarming levels" since Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on 2 March.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was "possible".
He made the comments to reporters at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, where he was meeting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Mr Trump also said that he will cut the 50-day deadline he has set Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
"I'm disappointed in President Putin, very disappointed in him. So we're going to have to look and I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number".
The prime minister travelled to Ayrshire, where the US president is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for wide-ranging discussions on trade and the Middle East as international concern grows over starvation in Gaza.
The two leaders have built a rapport despite their differing political backgrounds, with Mr Trump praising Mr Starmer for doing a "very good job" in office ahead of their talks.
But humanitarian conditions in Gaza and uncertainty over US import taxes on key British goods in America threaten to complicate their bilateral meeting.
Peace talks in the Middle East came to a standstill last week after the US and Israel recalled negotiating teams from Qatar, with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff blaming Hamas for a "lack of desire" to reach an agreement.
Since then, Israel has promised military pauses in three populated areas of Gaza to allow designated UN convoys of aid to reach desperate Palestinians.
But the UK, which is joining efforts to airdrop aid into the enclave and evacuate children in need of medical assistance, said that access to supplies must be "urgently" widened.
During discussions with Mr Trump, Downing Street said the prime minister will "welcome the president's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza".
"He will discuss further with him what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long," it said.
The leaders will also talk "one-on-one about advancing implementation of the landmark Economic Prosperity Deal so that Brits and Americans can benefit from boosted trade links between their two countries", it added.
The agreement signed at the G7 summit last month cut trade barriers on goods from both countries.
But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25% rather than falling to zero as originally agreed.
Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50% - the US's global rate - unless a further agreement was made by 9 July, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America's trading partners.
But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel.
Downing Street said both sides are working "at pace" to "go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic" and to give UK industry "the security it needs".
The two leaders are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which Number 10 said would include "applying pressure" on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the invasion, before travelling on together for a private engagement in Aberdeen.
It comes after Mr Trump announced he had agreed "the biggest deal ever made" between the US and the European Union after meeting Ursula von der Leyen for high-stakes talks at Turnberry yesterday.
After a day playing golf, the US president met the president of the EU Commission to hammer out the broad terms of an agreement that will subject the bloc to 15% tariffs on most of its goods entering America.
This is lower than a 30% levy previously threatened by the US president.
The agreement will include "zero for zero" tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals, as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars (€638bln) over three years.
Speaking to journalists yesterday about his meeting with the prime minister, Mr Trump said: "We're meeting about a lot of things. We have our trade deal and it's been a great deal.
"It's good for us. It's good for them and good for us.
"I think the UK is very happy, they've been trying for 12 years to get it and they got it, and it's a great trade deal for both, works out very well."
Mr Trump said he thinks discussions will feature "a lot about Israel".
"They're very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen," he said.
"He's doing a very good job, by the way," he added.
Mr Trump's private trip to the UK comes ahead of a planned state visit in September.