Over 100 aid groups call for Israel to stop starving Gazans; UN chief hits out at ‘horror show' as 80 children die of hunger

Irish Independent

4 days ago

In a statement signed by 111 organizations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Refugees International, the groups warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave even as tons of food, clean water, medical supplies and other items sit untouched just outside Gaza as humanitarian organizations are blocked from accessing or delivering them.
"As the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes," the organizations said.
"The Government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death."
The organizations called for governments to demand that all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions be lifted, all land crossings be opened, access to everyone across Gaza to be ensured and for the rejection of military-controlled distribution and a restoration of a "principled, UN-led humanitarian response."
"States must pursue concrete measures to end the siege, such as halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition."
Israel, which controls all supplies entering Gaza, denies it is responsible for shortages of food.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor, the U.N. human rights office said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 25 people across Gaza, according to local health officials.
'Horror show'
The U.N. Security Council urged the 193 United Nations member nations on Tuesday to use all possible means to settle disputes peacefully. The U.N. chief said that is needed now more than ever as he pointed to 'the horror show in Gaza' and conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti and Myanmar.
The vote was unanimous on a Pakistan-drafted resolution in the 15-member council.
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In urging greater efforts to pursue global peace, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the council: 'Around the world, we see an utter disregard for — if not outright violations of — international law' as well as the U.N. Charter.
It is happening at a time of widening geopolitical divides and numerous conflicts, starting with Gaza, where 'starvation is knocking on every door' as Israel denies the United Nations the space and safety to deliver aid and save Palestinian lives, Guterres said.
Micheál Martin has called for the war in Gaza to end, describing the images of starving children as 'horrific'.
Mr Martin called for a surge in humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.
It comes following reports of children dying due to malnutrition and starvation in recent days.
Palestinians in Gaza are facing severe shortages of food, water and aid.
It comes after Tánaiste Simon Harris was one of 26 signatories to a joint statement on Monday, which calls for an end to the war in Gaza.
Mr Harris, who is also Minister for Foreign Affairs, said the 'suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths'.
In a social media post, Mr Martin said: 'The situation in Gaza is horrific. The suffering of civilians and the death of innocent children is intolerable.
'I echo the call by foreign ministers of 28 countries for all hostages to be released, and for a surge in humanitarian aid.
'This war must end and it must end now.'
Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries.
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid — without providing evidence of widespread diversion — and blames U.N. agencies for failing to deliver food it has allowed in. The military says it has only fired warning shots near aid sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor, rejected what it said were 'false and exaggerated statistics' from the United Nations.
80 children die of starvation
The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, said Tuesday that 101 people, including 80 children, have died in recent days from starvation.
The deaths could not be independently verified, but U.N. officials and major international aid groups say the conditions for starvation exist in Gaza. During hunger crises, people can die from malnutrition or from common illnesses or injuries that the body is not strong enough to fight.
Israel eased a 2½-month blockade in May, allowing a trickle of aid in through the longstanding U.N.-run system and the newly created GHF. Aid groups say it's not nearly enough.
Dozens of Palestinians lined up Tuesday outside a charity kitchen in Gaza City, hoping for a bowl of watery tomato soup. The lucky ones got small chunks of eggplant. As supplies ran out, people holding pots pushed and shoved to get to the front.
Nadia Mdoukh, a pregnant woman who was displaced from her home and lives in a tent with her husband and three children, said she worries about being shoved or trampled on, and about heat stroke as daytime temperatures hover above 90 F (32 C).
'I do it for my children," she said. 'This is famine — there is no bread or flour.'
The U.N. World Food Program says Gaza's hunger crisis has reached 'new and astonishing levels of desperation.' Ross Smith, the agency's director for emergencies, told reporters Monday that nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and a third of Gaza's population is going without food for multiple days in a row.
MedGlobal, a charity working in Gaza, said five children as young as 3 months had died from starvation in the past three days.
'This is a deliberate and human-made disaster," said Joseph Belliveau, its executive director. "Those children died because there is not enough food in Gaza and not enough medicines, including IV fluids and therapeutic formula, to revive them.'
The charity said food is in such short supply that its own staff members suffer dizziness and headaches.
Of the 1,054 people killed while trying to get food since late May, 766 were killed while heading to sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the U.N. human rights office. The others were killed when gunfire erupted around U.N. convoys or aid sites.
Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the U.N. rights office, says its figures come from 'multiple reliable sources on the ground,' including medics, humanitarian and human rights organizations. He said the numbers were still being verified according to the office's strict methodology.
Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces regularly fire toward crowds of thousands of people heading to the GHF sites. The military says it has only fired warning shots, and GHF says its armed contractors have only fired into the air on a few occasions to try to prevent stampedes.
Countries' statement
A joint statement from 28 Western-aligned countries on Monday condemned the 'the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians.'
'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' read the statement, which was signed by the United Kingdom, France and other countries friendly to Israel. 'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.'
Israel and the United States rejected the statement, blaming Hamas for prolonging the war by not accepting Israeli terms for a ceasefire and the release of hostages abducted in the militant-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the fighting.
Hamas has said it will release the remaining hostages only in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will keep fighting until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed.
Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people Tuesday across Gaza, according to local health officials.
One strike hit tents sheltering displaced people in the built-up seaside Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The Israeli military said that it wasn't aware of such a strike by its forces.
The dead included three women and three children, the hospital director, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, told The Associated Press. Thirty-eight other Palestinians were wounded, he said.
An overnight strike that hit crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City killed eight, hospitals said. At least 118 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
'A bag of flour covered in blood and death," said Mohammed Issam, who was in the crowd and said some people were run over by trucks in the chaos. "How long will this humiliation continue?'
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that strike. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas, because the militants operate in densely populated areas.
Israel renewed its offensive in March with a surprise bombardment after ending an earlier ceasefire. Talks on another truce have dragged on for weeks despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attack, and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.
More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.