What we covered today
- Starvation warning: Gaza is facing a man-made
‘mass starvation, the World Health Organization chief said Monday. More than 100 humanitarian organizations signed a joint letter calling on Israel to restore the full flow of food, clean water, and medical supplies to Gaza. - Death toll rises: At least 10 people have died from starvation in the last 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.
- On the ground: Gazans still face Israel’s near-daily bombardment since the war began nearly two years
ago. Yesterday, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people, including a toddler and two other children. - Ceasefire latest: US special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Europe this week for conversations on a Gaza ceasefire, a US official said. He will then visit the Qatari capital of Doha for further talks, according to a separate source.
Palestinians in Gaza are suffering a man-made “mass starvation” due to the aid blockade on the enclave, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned reporters at a briefing Wednesday.
“Parents tell us their children cry themselves to sleep from hunger,” Ghebreyesus said. “Food distribution sites have become places of violence.”
Ghebreyesus’ answer was unambiguous when asked whether he agrees with a statement this week from over 100 aid organizations that Gaza is experiencing “mass starvation.” Earlier in the briefing, one of the WHO chief’s colleagues expressed reservations about using the term.
“Mass starvation means starvation of a large portion of the population,” Ghebreyesus said. “And a large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving. I don’t know what you’d call it other than mass starvation. And it is man-made, and that’s very clear.”
“This is because of (the) blockade,” Ghebreyesus continued. “And then of course there is an opening now, but it’s not enough. It is just a trickle and people are starving.”
“I don’t know why we’re even splitting hairs here,” Ghebreyesus added.
The WHO chief pointed to a UN report from this week noting that over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid since late May, hundreds of them at sites managed by the Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Israeli officials have blamed Hamas for any hunger in the Gaza Strip.
Visiting Gaza, Israeli president says his country is following international law
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog visited Israeli soldiers serving in Gaza and insisted that their country is following international law as over a hundred humanitarian organizations called for Israel to release aid into the enclave to feed starving Palestinians.
“We are acting here according to international law,”
Herzog said
“We are providing humanitarian aid according to international law. The ones trying to sabotage this aid are Hamas and its people, who are willing to do everything to prevent our forces from dismantling infrastructure that could harm us and our citizens,”
he added.
Herzog’s remarks echo similar claims from Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer on Wednesday, who dismissed aid organizations’ concerns as “false warnings” and claimed that Hamas is responsible for “engineering” the hunger crisis in Gaza by stealing aid. Hamas has denied the allegation.
For context: Gaza has been gripped by death and hunger amid a severe shortage of essential humanitarian aid like food and medicine. All 2.1 million people in Gaza are now food insecure. On Tuesday, Gaza’s health ministry said 900,000 children are going hungry, and 70,000 already show signs of malnutrition.
Hamas responded to the Israeli proposal on where their troops would be re-deployed during a ceasefire, with a new outline for the Israeli troop withdrawal that is “unworkable,” according to a source familiar with the matter.
Hamas was told to resubmit its response today via intermediaries in Doha, but the inability to move beyond what has been a consistent sticking point is leading to pessimism about the likelihood of a ceasefire being reached soon.
The pessimism on Wednesday comes after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce yesterday that he was “very optimistic” on the possibility of a ceasefire being agreed,
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Doha this weekend for further discussions if the talks are at an advanced stage, but it is now unclear whether that will happen.
Harrowing images show the reality of life in Gaza
Food markets are empty. Human waste is piling up.
Illness is spreading. And people in Gaza are
“collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration.”
That’s the stark warning issued by more than 100 international humanitarian organizations on
Wednesday, in a joint statement calling on Israel to end its blockade.
Israel has said it is allowing ample aid into the besieged Palestinian territory and has previously blamed Hamas for its decision to halt aid shipments, alleging the militant group was stealing supplies and profiting from it. Hamas has denied this allegation.
Images taken by news agency photographers on the ground in Gaza show the reality of spreading disease and famine:
A 1.5-year-old child in Gaza City, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, faces life-threatening malnutrition as the humanitarian situation worsens due to ongoing Israeli attacks and blockade, on Monday. Having dropped from 9 to 6 kilograms, he struggles to survive in a tent.
Crowds form as Palestinians, including children, line up in Gaza City, Gaza, to receive food distributed by a charity on Tuesday. The World Food Program has warned that famine is looming, and 70,000 children in Gaza need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition.
Two-year-old Yezen Abu Ful, who lives with his family in the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, continues to lose weight. Pictured on July 13, his condition continues to worsen due to severe food shortages caused by the ongoing Israeli blockade.
Displaced Palestinians in Gaza City fill cans with water delivered by tankers on July 17. With key infrastructure destroyed, UN agencies have warned that hundreds of thousands of people have little access to water or hygiene
A 14-year-old Palestinian boy, Mosab Al-Debs, who is suffering from malnourishment, lies on a bed at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on Tuesday.
A man carries the body of his nephew: six-week-old infant Yousef al-Safadi – who died of starvation, according to health officials, in Gaza City on Tuesday.
