logo
Julia Hartley-Brewer blasted for 'revolting' claim about Gaza children

Julia Hartley-Brewer blasted for 'revolting' claim about Gaza children

The National6 days ago
The broadcaster has been chastised for the claims she made in conversation with commentator Sam Armstrong, who also claimed the starvation children are being subjected to is not Israel's fault.
Hartley-Brewer at one stage appeared to poke fun at images of starving children saying "often there's a mother who's quite chubby with the child".
With Armstrong nodding along, she said: "A lot of those pictures are propaganda.
"It's been proved a number of them, these are children who have some congenital, horrible disease, totally unrelated to lack of food.
READ MORE: Israel 'using Hamas as pretext to commit genocide', B'Tselem says
"Often there's a picture of a mother who's quite chubby with the child and well that's...'hey lady maybe give some of your food to your kid'.
"But there will be people who are starving, there will be people who are not getting access to food. Who's fault is that? Is it Israel's?"
Armstrong replied: "No. It is categorically, 100%, and I mean 100%, Hamas."
Julia Hartley-Brewer says many pictures coming out of Gaza of malnourished children are "propaganda".
"Often, there's a picture of a mother who's quite chubby at the back with the child. Hey lady, maybe give some of your food to your kid!"@JuliaHB1 pic.twitter.com/OGGRcAwGl0 — Talk (@TalkTV) July 28, 2025
In the Sunday National, Gaza dentist Ibrahim Shareef Al-Ashi lifted the lid on the horrors of starvation gripping the territory.
He said that people were reduced to eating just one meal a day as Israel prevents food from entering Palestine.
A mass starvation expert also warned the crisis in Gaza is the "most severe" and "minutely engineered" act of deliberate starvation since the Second World War.
Speaking with System Update, Alex de Waal noted that whilst the man-made famine in Gaza is not the largest by numbers, it is more 'intense' than the starvation imposed on countries like Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen.
Mark Seddon, a former adviser to Maria Fernanda Espinosa, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, said the commentary from Hartley-Brewer was "revolting".
Sharing the clip on Twitter/X, he said: "This is just revolting now. Julia Hartley Brewer should try one of those Gaza diets for a few months. A
"And is @TalkTV proud of the fact that it is posting this stuff? Really?"
READ MORE: Labour minister squirms amid grilling on recognising Palestinian state
He went on: "The more grotesque and egregious the crimes against humanity being committed in Gaza, the more extreme, absurd and offensive the claims that it is all somehow made-up. Largely being made by dead-eyed amoral individuals who seem to revel in their ignorance."
Elsewhere on social media, Hartley-Brewer's comments were described as "disgusting" and "demonstrably false".
Last week former first minister Humza Yousaf and his wife Nadia El-Nakla posted a powerful video saying that their family in Gaza is starving.
The pair said the stories they were hearing from El-Nakla's side of the family in Gaza were "sickening" and "gut-wrenching".
Last week more than 100 aid organisations warned of 'mass starvation' in the enclave with more than two million people facing shortages of food and other essentials after 21 months of brutal bombardment by Israel.
A statement from the agencies says they are 'witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes', with aid workers now joining food lines and risking being shot by Israeli forces.
Global news organisations including the BBC, AFP, Reuters and and Associated Press also voiced concern over journalists facing starvation.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

At least 27 people seeking food killed by Israeli gunfire, health officials say
At least 27 people seeking food killed by Israeli gunfire, health officials say

Powys County Times

timean hour ago

  • Powys County Times

At least 27 people seeking food killed by Israeli gunfire, health officials say

Israeli forces killed at least 27 Palestinians seeking food on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, according to hospital officials. Witnesses described facing gunfire as hungry crowds surged around aid sites as the malnutrition-related death toll surged. Desperation has gripped the Palestinian territory of more than two million, which experts have warned is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. Yousef Abed, among the crowds en-route to a distribution point, described coming under what he called indiscriminate fire, looking around and seeing at least three people bleeding on the ground. 'I couldn't stop and help them because of the bullets,' he said. Southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital said it had received bodies from near multiple distribution sites, including eight from Teina, about 1.8 miles from a distribution site in Khan Younis run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a private US and Israeli-backed contractor that took over aid distribution more than two months ago. The hospital also received one body from Shakoush, near a different GHF site in Rafah. Another nine were killed by troops near the Morag corridor who were awaiting trucks entering Gaza through an Israeli border crossing, it said. Three Palestinian witnesses, seeking food in Teina and Morag, said the shootings occurred on the route to the distribution points, which are in military zones secured by Israeli forces. They said they saw soldiers open fire on hungry crowds advancing towards the troops. Further north in central Gaza, hospital officials described a similar episode, with Israeli troops opening fire on Sunday morning towards crowds of Palestinians trying to get to GHF's fourth and northern-most distribution point. 'Troops were trying to prevent people from advancing,' one witness said. 'They opened fire and we fled. Some people were shot.' At least five people were killed and 27 were injured at GHF's site near the Netzarim corridor, Awda Hospital said. Witnesses seeking food in Gaza have reported similar gunfire attacks in recent days near aid distribution sites, leaving dozens of Palestinians dead. The United Nations reported 859 people were killed near GHF sites from May 27 to July 31, and hundreds more have been killed along the routes of UN-led food convoys. The GHF launched in May as Israel sought an alternative to the UN-run system, which had safely delivered aid for much of the war but was accused by Israel of allowing Hamas, which guarded convoys early in the war, to siphon supplies. Israel has not offered evidence of widespread theft. The UN has denied it. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel's military has said it only fires warning shots as well. Both claimed the death tolls have been exaggerated. Neither Israel's military nor GHF immediately responded to questions about Sunday's reported fatalities. Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry also said six more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. This brings the death toll among Palestinian adults to 82 in the past five weeks since the ministry started counting deaths among adults in late June, it said. Ninety-three children have also died of causes related to malnutrition since the war in Gaza started in 2023, the ministry said.

At least 27 people seeking food killed by Israeli gunfire, health officials say
At least 27 people seeking food killed by Israeli gunfire, health officials say

Glasgow Times

time2 hours ago

  • Glasgow Times

At least 27 people seeking food killed by Israeli gunfire, health officials say

Witnesses described facing gunfire as hungry crowds surged around aid sites as the malnutrition-related death toll surged. Desperation has gripped the Palestinian territory of more than two million, which experts have warned is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. Yousef Abed, among the crowds en-route to a distribution point, described coming under what he called indiscriminate fire, looking around and seeing at least three people bleeding on the ground. 'I couldn't stop and help them because of the bullets,' he said. Abeer and Fadi Sobh with their children at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital said it had received bodies from near multiple distribution sites, including eight from Teina, about 1.8 miles from a distribution site in Khan Younis run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a private US and Israeli-backed contractor that took over aid distribution more than two months ago. The hospital also received one body from Shakoush, near a different GHF site in Rafah. Another nine were killed by troops near the Morag corridor who were awaiting trucks entering Gaza through an Israeli border crossing, it said. Three Palestinian witnesses, seeking food in Teina and Morag, said the shootings occurred on the route to the distribution points, which are in military zones secured by Israeli forces. They said they saw soldiers open fire on hungry crowds advancing towards the troops. Further north in central Gaza, hospital officials described a similar episode, with Israeli troops opening fire on Sunday morning towards crowds of Palestinians trying to get to GHF's fourth and northern-most distribution point. 'Troops were trying to prevent people from advancing,' one witness said. 'They opened fire and we fled. Some people were shot.' At least five people were killed and 27 were injured at GHF's site near the Netzarim corridor, Awda Hospital said. The Gaza health ministry has said 93 children have died of causes related to malnutrition since the war in Gaza started in 2023 (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Witnesses seeking food in Gaza have reported similar gunfire attacks in recent days near aid distribution sites, leaving dozens of Palestinians dead. The United Nations reported 859 people were killed near GHF sites from May 27 to July 31, and hundreds more have been killed along the routes of UN-led food convoys. The GHF launched in May as Israel sought an alternative to the UN-run system, which had safely delivered aid for much of the war but was accused by Israel of allowing Hamas, which guarded convoys early in the war, to siphon supplies. Israel has not offered evidence of widespread theft. The UN has denied it. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel's military has said it only fires warning shots as well. Both claimed the death tolls have been exaggerated. Neither Israel's military nor GHF immediately responded to questions about Sunday's reported fatalities. Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry also said six more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. This brings the death toll among Palestinian adults to 82 in the past five weeks since the ministry started counting deaths among adults in late June, it said. Ninety-three children have also died of causes related to malnutrition since the war in Gaza started in 2023, the ministry said.

At least 27 people seeking food killed by Israeli gunfire, health officials say
At least 27 people seeking food killed by Israeli gunfire, health officials say

Western Telegraph

time2 hours ago

  • Western Telegraph

At least 27 people seeking food killed by Israeli gunfire, health officials say

Witnesses described facing gunfire as hungry crowds surged around aid sites as the malnutrition-related death toll surged. Desperation has gripped the Palestinian territory of more than two million, which experts have warned is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. Yousef Abed, among the crowds en-route to a distribution point, described coming under what he called indiscriminate fire, looking around and seeing at least three people bleeding on the ground. 'I couldn't stop and help them because of the bullets,' he said. Abeer and Fadi Sobh with their children at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital said it had received bodies from near multiple distribution sites, including eight from Teina, about 1.8 miles from a distribution site in Khan Younis run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a private US and Israeli-backed contractor that took over aid distribution more than two months ago. The hospital also received one body from Shakoush, near a different GHF site in Rafah. Another nine were killed by troops near the Morag corridor who were awaiting trucks entering Gaza through an Israeli border crossing, it said. Three Palestinian witnesses, seeking food in Teina and Morag, said the shootings occurred on the route to the distribution points, which are in military zones secured by Israeli forces. They said they saw soldiers open fire on hungry crowds advancing towards the troops. Further north in central Gaza, hospital officials described a similar episode, with Israeli troops opening fire on Sunday morning towards crowds of Palestinians trying to get to GHF's fourth and northern-most distribution point. 'Troops were trying to prevent people from advancing,' one witness said. 'They opened fire and we fled. Some people were shot.' At least five people were killed and 27 were injured at GHF's site near the Netzarim corridor, Awda Hospital said. The Gaza health ministry has said 93 children have died of causes related to malnutrition since the war in Gaza started in 2023 (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Witnesses seeking food in Gaza have reported similar gunfire attacks in recent days near aid distribution sites, leaving dozens of Palestinians dead. The United Nations reported 859 people were killed near GHF sites from May 27 to July 31, and hundreds more have been killed along the routes of UN-led food convoys. The GHF launched in May as Israel sought an alternative to the UN-run system, which had safely delivered aid for much of the war but was accused by Israel of allowing Hamas, which guarded convoys early in the war, to siphon supplies. Israel has not offered evidence of widespread theft. The UN has denied it. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel's military has said it only fires warning shots as well. Both claimed the death tolls have been exaggerated. Neither Israel's military nor GHF immediately responded to questions about Sunday's reported fatalities. Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry also said six more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. This brings the death toll among Palestinian adults to 82 in the past five weeks since the ministry started counting deaths among adults in late June, it said. Ninety-three children have also died of causes related to malnutrition since the war in Gaza started in 2023, the ministry said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store