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DW
3 hours ago
- Politics
- DW
Gaza: NGOs blast 'futile' aid airdrops – DW – 07/30/2025
As famine-like conditions take hold in Gaza, human rights organizations have criticized plans by Germany and other countries to airlift food into the territory, calling them "ineffective" and "symbolic." "We need urgent action now," said Ross Smith, director of emergency preparedness and response at the UN World Food Programme (WFP) this week, as he told the press in Rome that the hunger and starvation currently underway in Gaza were "unlike anything we have seen in this century. It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century." "Worst-case scenario of famine unfolding in the Gaza Strip," read an alert issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The UN's hunger monitoring initiative has concluded that mounting evidence shows that "widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths." It added: "Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City." Most of the more than 2 million inhabitants of the already densely populated Gaza Strip, which has a total area of 365 square kilometers (141 square miles), are currently living in extremely overcrowded refugee camps in an even more limited space because the Israeli army has declared large parts of the strip militarized zones. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently declared there was "no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza." Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza. Dozens of Palestinian journalists have been killed. Since the weekend, members of the international community have been trying to find ways of alleviating the acute misery in Gaza. On Sunday, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates parachuted 25 tons of aid into Gaza. Germany and France also announced airdrop missions. "This work may only make a small contribution to humanitarian aid, but it sends an important signal: We are here, we are in the region," said Germany Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Aid organizations expressed dismay. "Using airdrops for the delivery of humanitarian aid is a futile initiative that smacks of cynicism," said Doctors Without Borders (MSF) emergency coordinator in Gaza Jean Guy Vataux. He said that airdrops were "notoriously ineffective and dangerous." The Berlin-based Center for Humanitarian Action (CHA) said it was "the most senseless airlift ever" as well as "symbolic politics and a waste of money." Its director Ralf Südhoff said that airlifts were up to 35 times more expensive than land convoys. Marvin Fürderer, an emergency relief expert at the German charity Welthungerhilfe, also described the airdrops as "symbolic" and "ineffective." He told DW that one fundamental problem of the approach was that aid would be "dropped into a high-risk environment, without coordination, without a designated drop zone and without safety structures." He added that it would likely not reach those who needed it most but those who were "still mobile enough to fight their way through the rubble and crowded streets to get to a place where aid had been dropped and then to wrangle for it." Almost every day, Palestinians are killed trying to access food at the few hubs run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The US nonprofit is backed by President Donald Trump's administration and the Israeli government and was set up to distribute humanitarian aid after Israel banned the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in Gaza and the other Occupied Palestinian Territories earlier this year. However, it has failed to provide security: The UN accuses the Israeli military of firing on people standing in line. This week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that "more than one thousand people have been killed since the end of May as they tried to get food." International NGOs have called on Israel to allow the unhindered entry of aid into Gaza and for those organizations that used to provide supplies at around 600 distribution hubs to be permitted to resume their activities. At a press conference in Berlin, Riad Othman, a Middle East expert at the German-based human rights organization Medico International, explained that before October 7, 2023, the population of Gaza and its economy were being supplied by 500 to 600 trucks per day. "Today, even 600 trucks a day would not be enough to meet demand because not only has the essential infrastructure and healthcare system been systematically destroyed in Gaza, but so too has agriculture," he added. A truck can typically hold about 20 tons of aid, which includes medical supplies and drinking water, as well as food. Israel has been letting some aid trucks into Gaza since Sunday, likely owing to international pressure. The Israeli military body that facilitates the entry of aid to Gaza, COGAT, said 220 aid trucks crossed into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. On October 7, 2023 the militant Palestinian organization Hamas and other groups killed more than 1,200 people in Israel in a coordinated attack. They also took 250 hostages back to Gaza. Israel launched a counterattack and declared that it would destroy Hamas. The Gaza Health Ministry says that at least 60,000 people have died, at least 147 from starvation. After violating a ceasefire agreement in March, Israel blocked all aid supplies to Gaza for more than 80 days. Now, Israel says it is observing daily pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and once again allowing aid to be delivered via land. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has criticized this, saying it is akin to providing life support for the enemy. Julia Duchrow, the secretary general of Amnesty International's German section, said that there was "ample evidence that Israel is using hunger as a weapon of war." She called on the German government to stop supplying arms to Israel and to increase diplomatic pressure on the Israeli government. The Israeli government has denied many international NGOs access to Gaza. Welthungerhilfe can only provide aid via local partners, Fürderer told DW, saying that a permanent ceasefire was crucial and that the border crossings had to be opened to allow humanitarian aid in. He said that if this were to happen, Welthungerhilfe could immediately bring in aid from Jordan. "The convoys could start within hours, as soon as the political conditions on the ground allowed," he pointed out. By contrast, he said, the airdrops would call for logistical reorganization that would be costly. "It is very interesting that this is now being considered, at a time when the government wants to cut humanitarian aid by 53%," Fürderer said. "In a situation like this, it is difficult to spend millions on symbolic, ineffective airdrops." The German air force already has some experience dropping aid into Gaza. In spring 2024, A400M military transport aircraft flew airdrop missions for 10 weeks, dropping 315 tons of aid supplies in view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Kuwait Times
19 hours ago
- Health
- Kuwait Times
Gaza martyrs top 60,000
Global monitor demands action to avert famine UNITED NATIONS: A worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in Gaza and immediate action is needed to end fighting and allow unimpeded aid access, a global hunger monitor warned on Tuesday, saying failure to act now would result in widespread death. Its alert coincided with a statement from Gaza health authorities saying Zionist military campaign had now killed more than 60,000 Palestinians. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) raised the prospect that the manmade starvation crisis could be formally classified as a famine, in the hope that this might raise the pressure on Zionist entity to let far more food deliveries in. 'Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,' the IPC said. It added that it would quickly carry out the formal analysis that could allow it to classify Gaza as 'in famine'. But it is unclear whether any such announcement would help to remove the main obstacle to food reaching Gaza's 2.1 million people: Zionist entity's refusal to allow more than a trickle of trucks in. 'We're getting about approximately 50 percent of what we're requesting into Gaza since these humanitarian pauses started on Sunday,' Ross Smith of the World Food Program told reporters in Geneva by video. The WFP says almost 470,000 people are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition. Gaza's health ministry says at least 147 people have died of hunger including 88 children, most in the last few weeks. Images of emaciated children have shocked the world and fuelled international criticism of Zionist entity, prompting it at the weekend to announce daily humanitarian pauses to fighting in three areas of Gaza and new safe corridors for aid convoys. Yet the supply remains far short of what aid agencies say is the bare minimum required. The IPC alert said this meant 62,000 metric tons of staple food a month, but that according to the Zionist aid coordination agency COGAT, only 19,900 tons entered in May and 37,800 in June. Smith said the WFP lacked the stocks or permissions to reopen the bakeries and community kitchens that had been a lifeline before a total blockade began in May. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza was 'tough' but that there were lies about starvation. He said 5,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the last two months, and that Zionist entity would assist those wanting to conduct airdrops - a delivery method that aid groups say is ineffective and tokenistic. Zionist entity has consistently said its actions are justified as self-defence. It says the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ruled Gaza, is to blame for refusing to release hostages and surrender, and for operating in civilian areas, which Hamas denies. Catastrophic suffering The IPC alert said that 'immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response. 'This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering.' The IPC partners with governments, international aid groups and UN agencies and assesses the extent of hunger suffered by a population. Its famine classification requires at least 20 percent of people to be suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying every day from starvation or malnutrition and disease. The IPC's latest data indicated that formal famine thresholds have already been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza, and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City. But David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee aid group, said that 'formal famine declarations always lag reality'. 'By the time that famine was declared in Somalia in 2011, 250,000 people - half of them children under 5 - had already died of hunger,' he said in a statement. 'By the time famine is declared, it will already be too late.' War has raged in Gaza between Zionists and Hamas militants for 22 months. After an 11-week blockade, limited UN-led aid operations resumed on May 19 and a week later the obscure new US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - backed by Zionist entity and the United States - began distributing food aid. The rival aid efforts have sparked a war of words - pitting Zionist entity, the US and the GHF against the UN, international aid groups and dozens of governments from around the world. Zionist entity and the US accuse Hamas of stealing aid - which the militants deny - and the UN of failing to prevent it. The UN says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. The IPC said 88 percent of Gaza was now under evacuation orders or within militarized areas, and was critical of GHF efforts. It said most of the GHF food items 'require water and fuel to cook, which are largely unavailable'. The IPC's Famine Review Committee said: 'Our analysis of the food packages supplied by the GHF shows that their distribution plan would lead to mass starvation.' The GHF was not immediately available for comment. It has previously said it has so far distributed more than 96 million meals. Jolien Veldwijk, CARE Palestine Country Director, said that Palestinians were suffering a 'manmade famine, caused by Zionist siege and the deliberate obstruction of aid, fuelled by the inaction of world leaders'. 'The haunting images of emaciated children are evidence of a failure of humanity to act.' The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Zionist entity and took some 250 hostages, according to Zionist tallies.- Reuters
DW
20 hours ago
- Politics
- DW
NGOs: Gaza airdrops smack of 'cynicism' and are 'futile' – DW – 07/30/2025
As famine takes hold in Gaza, human rights organizations have criticized the plans by Germany and other countries to drop aid in via airlifts. They say this is symbolic politics and inefficient. "We need urgent action now," said Ross Smith, director of emergency preparedness and response at the UN World Food Programme (WFP) this week, as he told the press in Rome that the famine currently underway in Gaza was "unlike anything we have seen in this century. It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century." "Worst-case scenario of famine unfolding in the Gaza Strip," read an alert issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The UN's hunger monitoring initiative has concluded that mounting evidence shows that "widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths." It added: "Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City." Most of the more than 2 million inhabitants of the already densely populated Gaza Strip, which has a total area of 365 square kilometers (141 square miles), are currently living in extremely overcrowded refugee camps in an even more limited space because the Israeli army has declared large parts of the strip militarized zones. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu recently declared there was "no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza." Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza. Dozens of Palestinian journalists have been killed. Since the weekend, members of the international community have been trying to find ways of alleviating the acute misery in Gaza. On Sunday, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates parachuted 25 tons of aid into Gaza. Germany and France also announced airdrop missions. "This work may only make a small contribution to humanitarian aid, but it sends an important signal: We are here, we are in the region," said Germany Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Aid organizations expressed dismay. "Using airdrops for the delivery of humanitarian aid is a futile initiative that smacks of cynicism," said Doctors Without Borders (MSF) emergency coordinator in Gaza Jean Guy Vataux. He said that airdrops were "notoriously ineffective and dangerous." The Berlin-based Center for Humanitarian Action (CHA) said it was "the most senseless airlift ever" as well as "symbolic politics and a waste of money." Its director Ralf Südhoff said that airlifts were up to 35 times more expensive than land convoys. Marvin Fürderer, an emergency relief expert at the German charity Welthungerhilfe, also described the airdrops as "symbolic" and "ineffective." He told DW that one fundamental problem of the approach was that aid would be "dropped into a high-risk environment, without coordination, without a designated drop zone and without safety structures." He added that it would likely not reach those who needed it most but those who were "still mobile enough to fight their way through the rubble and crowded streets to get to a place where aid had been dropped and then to wrangle for it." Almost every day, Palestinians are killed trying to access food at the few hubs run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The US nonprofit is backed by President Donald Trump's administration and the Israeli government and was set up to distribute humanitarian aid after Israel banned the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in Gaza and the other Occupied Palestinian Territories earlier this year. However, it has failed to provide security: The UN accuses the Israeli military of firing on people standing in line. This week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that "more than one thousand people have been killed since the end of May as they tried to get food." International NGOs have called on Israel to allow the unhindered entry of aid into Gaza and for those organizations that used to provide supplies at around 600 distribution hubs to be permitted to resume their activities. At a press conference in Berlin, Riad Othman, a Middle East expert at the German-based human rights organization Medico International, explained that before October 7, 2023, the population of Gaza and its economy were being supplied by 500 to 600 trucks per day. "Today, even 600 trucks a day would not be enough to meet demand because not only has the essential infrastructure and healthcare system been systematically destroyed in Gaza, but so too has agriculture," he added. A truck can typically hold about 20 tons of aid, which includes medical supplies and drinking water, as well as food. On October 7, 2023 the militant Palestinian organization Hamas and other groups killed more than 1,200 people in Israel in a coordinated attack. They also took 250 hostages back to Gaza. Israel launched a counterattack and declared that it would destroy Hamas. The Gaza Health Ministry says that at least 60,000 people have died, at least 147 from starvation. After violating a ceasefire agreement in March, Israel blocked all aid supplies to Gaza for more than 80 days. Now, Israel says it is observing daily pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and once again allowing aid to be delivered via land. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has criticized this, saying it is akin to providing life support for the enemy. Julia Duchrow, the secretary general of Amnesty International's German section, said that there was "ample evidence that Israel is using hunger as a weapon of war." She called on the German government to stop supplying arms to Israel and to increase diplomatic pressure on the Israeli government. The Israeli government has denied many international NGOs access to Gaza. Welthungerhilfe can only provide aid via local partners, Fürderer told DW, saying that a permanent ceasefire was crucial and that the border crossings had to be opened to allow humanitarian aid in. He said that if this were to happen, Welthungerhilfe could immediately bring in aid from Jordan. "The convoys could start within hours, as soon as the political conditions on the ground allowed," he pointed out. By contrast, he said, the airdrops would call for logistical reorganization that would be costly. "It is very interesting that this is now being considered, at a time when the government wants to cut humanitarian aid by 53%," Fürderer said. "In a situation like this, it is difficult to spend millions on symbolic, ineffective airdrops." The German air force already has some experience dropping aid into Gaza. In spring 2024, A400M military transport aircraft flew airdrop missions for 10 weeks, dropping 315 tons of aid supplies in view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
NDTV
a day ago
- Health
- NDTV
"Apocalypse": Gaza Faces Famine-Like Crisis Because Of Acute Food Shortage
A famine-like crisis is now taking hold in Gaza with food and essential services "plummeting to unprecedented levels", a UN-backed food security group has warned. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) called it the "worst-case scenario of famine", citing drastic shortages of food, clean water, and basic health services in the besieged enclave. The IPC's alert, based on mounting data, reveals that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are causing a rise in hunger-related deaths, CNN reported. Like apocalypse: Civilians as aid trucks entered Rafah, Gaza. — Clash Report (@clashreport) July 27, 2025 "Conflict and displacement have intensified, and access to food and other essential items and services has plummeted to unprecedented levels," the IPC said. The IPC said health workers treated over 20,000 children for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, including more than 3,000 who were severely malnourished. "Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City," the group said. It called for "immediate action" to end the fighting and allow large-scale humanitarian aid. In May, the IPC warned that everyone in Gaza faced "high levels of acute food insecurity" and was at "high risk" of famine. "It's clearly a disaster unfolding in front of our eyes, in front of our television screens," said Ross Smith, UN World Food Programme (WFP) director of emergencies. "This is not a warning, this is a call to action. This is unlike anything we have seen in this century," he said. Since Israel's war began on October 7, 2023, close to 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. In Gaza, more than 470,000 people, including 71,000 children under five, are now in starvation conditions, according to the latest UN estimates. Israel's full blockade, in place since March 2, has virtually cut off access to food, medicine, fuel, and humanitarian supplies. Over 1,060 people have reportedly been killed while attempting to reach food distribution points. On Monday, US president Donald Trump called the situation "real starvation," contradicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that no starvation exists in Gaza. "That's real starvation stuff," Trump said while speaking to reporters in Scotland. "I see it, and you can't fake that. So, we're going to be even more involved." He added that the US would set up "food centres" in Gaza. Israel announced it would pause military operations in parts of Gaza for 10 hours daily to allow aid convoys safe passage. The UN says 500-600 trucks are needed each day to meet humanitarian needs, while only around 100 trucks have entered since the policy change. The World Food Programme said it was only able to send in about half the daily target and has not yet reopened the lifeline bakeries and community kitchens that shut down in May due to shortages. While over 96 million meal kits have been distributed by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since late May, the IPC warns that most contents like rice, pasta and beans require cooking but clean water and fuel are scarce.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Famine under way in Gaza, UN-backed experts say, as war death toll passes 60,000
Gaza has passed two grim landmarks on a single day, as UN-backed hunger experts warned a 'worst-case scenario of famine' was unfolding in the territory and called for 'immediate action' shortly before health officials announced the death toll from Israeli attacks had passed 60,000. With more than 145,000 others injured, nearly one in 10 Palestinians who lived in Gaza two years ago has become a casualty of the war. The majority of those killed were civilians, including over 18,000 children. 'The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,' the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in an alert that called for an urgent ceasefire to alleviate 'widespread starvation'. Survivors face a famine caused by Israel blocking food aid and 'relentless conflict', the report said. 'Immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow for unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response. This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering.' Malnutrition has killed 79 people in Gaza over the last week, more than in the previous 21 months of conflict, according to health authorities there. That is likely a conservative estimate of the real toll, experts in food security and doctors in Gaza say. The famine in Gaza is the most severe hunger crisis the world has faced for decades, the World Food Programme (WFP) emergency director Ross Smith said. 'This is unlike anything we have seen in this century,' he told a news conference after the IPC alert was published. 'It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century.' The IPC is a global initiative working with 21 aid groups, international organisations and UN agencies to assess hunger levels in populations at risk. It had previously warned Gaza was on the brink of famine, most recently in May. Israel has repeatedly limited aid trucks reaching Gaza during 22 months of war, and halted shipments entirely for six weeks at the start of the war, and between March and mid-May this year. The government has pursued a campaign of starvation despite pressure from its allies and repeated emergency orders from the iternational court of justice, issued to protect Palestinians as judges consider whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The IPC alert, based on 'the latest evidence available', does not formally classify Gaza as being in famine. That requires a full analysis, which the IPC said would be carried out without delay, but data from Gaza already confirms two of three thresholds have been met. Famine is reached when at least 20% of people face extreme food shortages, one in three children are acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 die daily from starvation-related causes. Most of Gaza has crossed the food consumption threshold, 'with one in three individuals going without food for days at a time', the IPC alert said. Coverage of the war in Gaza is constrained by Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists and a bar on international reporters entering the Gaza Strip to report independently on the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza since 7 October 2023, unless they are under Israeli military escort. Reporters who join these trips have no control over where they go, and other restrictions include a bar on speaking to Palestinians in Gaza. Palestinian journalists and media workers inside Gaza have paid a heavy price for their work reporting on the war, with over 180 killed since the conflict began. The committee to protect journalists has determined that at least 19 of them 'were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders'. Foreign reporters based in Israel filed a legal petition seeking access to Gaza, but it was rejected by the supreme court on security grounds. Private lobbying by diplomats and public appeals by prominent journalists and media outlets have been ignored by the Israeli government. To ensure accurate reporting from Gaza given these restrictions, the Guardian works with trusted journalists on the ground; our visual teams verify photo and videos from third parties; and we use clearly sourced data from organisations that have a track record of providing accurate information in Gaza during past conflicts, or during other conflicts or humanitarian crises. Emma Graham-Harrison, chief Middle East correspondent Child malnutrition rose rapidly in the first half of July, reaching the famine threshold in Gaza City. 'Hospitals have reported a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths of children under five years of age, with at least 16 reported deaths since 17 July,' it said. Between April and mid-July, more than 20,000 children were admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition, 3,000 of them severely malnourished. The third core indicator is starvation-related deaths, which are 'increasingly common', even if still formally below the famine threshold, according to WFP. 'The unbearable suffering of the people of Gaza is already clear for the world to see. Waiting for official confirmation of famine to provide life-saving food aid they desperately need is unconscionable,' Cindy McCain, the WFP executive director, said. Gaza may already have crossed the mortality threshold. A Canadian doctor working in Gaza said malnourishment affected everyone he treated, but starvation was only listed as a cause of death for people without other health problems. 'The figures are very, very conservative,' Tarek Loubani, the medical director of Glia, said in a video briefing. 'Right now every single one of my patients is malnourished.' The official toll of 60,000 dead also lags the real scale of loss in Gaza. It only includes Palestinians killed by bombs or bullets whose bodies have been recovered, leaving out thousands trapped under the rubble, rising numbers killed by starvation and other indirect victims of the campaign. Independent international studies have found that figures from Gaza health authorities, who have a verified track record tracking casualties in past conflicts there, are likely to be underestimates. Shireen Abu Sharkh's husband is one of the casualties of Israeli attacks, an amputee who lost his leg to shrapnel injuries when a bomb landed near their tent. Now she fears their three daughters will become victims of Israel's blockade of aid. The IPC report details how 'drastic restrictions' on the entry of food has limited shipments to far below levels needed to cover basic needs in Gaza, and for months there has been no supply of fresh foods such as vegetables and meat. The population needs an estimated 62,000 metric tonnes of food staples each month. Israeli data shows no food entered Gaza in March or April, 19,900 tonnes entered in May and 37,800 tonnes entered in June, the IPC report says. Israel has blamed food shortages in Gaza on distribution failures by the UN, and Hamas diverting aid. Those claims have been repeatedly undermined. Abu Sharkh cannot afford to buy food and the soup kitchens the family relied on are rarely open now. She had not eaten for 24 hours when she spoke to the Guardian on Tuesday, and her girls had shared a few pieces of broken falafel. 'I'm most afraid for my youngest daughter, she is 14 months old and only weighs six kilos. She is just skin and bones,' Abu Sharkh says. When she goes out to search for food she feels constantly dizzy, and worries about collapsing in the street, but staying at home where her starving daughters beg her for food she has no way of getting them is unbearable. 'I challenge the world to come and live our life for just one day. Let them feel what it's like to hear their children crying from hunger while being powerless to give them anything.' The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each.
