LONDON: Rachael Cummings, the humanitarian director for Save the Children, described the food situation in Gaza as “absolutely desperate” and “the worst it has ever been.”
She spoke to Sky News from Deir Al-Balah on Tuesday, a city in central Gaza where Israeli forces launched a bombing campaign this week and where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter.
“One of my colleagues said to me yesterday: ‘We are all walking together towards death’. And this is the situation now for people in Gaza.
“There is no food for their children; it’s absolutely desperate here,” she said during the video call.
Markets in the territory are devoid of goods, she added, and people with cash are unable to find bread or vegetables to buy.
“My team have said to me: ‘There’s nothing in my house to feed my children, my children are crying all day, every day’.”
Cummings’ remarks came as the UK, along with 24 other nations, issued a joint statement on Monday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and criticizing the US-Israeli model of aid distribution. In recent weeks, hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed while attempting to obtain food from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial organization supported by the US and Israel.
“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the joint statement said.
The 25 countries also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of hostages captured by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks. Sources informed Reuters that Israel suspects some hostages taken by the armed group may be located near Deir Al-Balah.
Meanwhile, several humanitarian organizations, including UNRWA and the Norwegian Refugee Council, have also warned that some of their staff are starving due to low food and drinking water supplies in the territory.
Since Sunday, 21 children have died in Gaza due to severe malnutrition and hunger-related complications, amid shortages of food and medical supplies.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy pledged £40 million ($54 million) for humanitarian assistance in Gaza on Tuesday.
Charity staffer Liz Allcock, who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians in Gaza, welcomed the announcement, but told Sky News: “There have been (similar) statements in the past 21 months and nothing has changed. In fact, things have only got worse. And every time we think it can’t get worse, it does.
“Without a reversal of the siege, the lack of supplies, the constant bombardment, the forced displacement, the killing and the militarization of aid, we are going to collapse as a humanitarian response,” she said.
“And this would do a grave injustice to the 2.2 million people we’re trying to serve.”
Food situation in Gaza ‘absolutely desperate,’ charity warns
https://arab.news/y44fn
Food situation in Gaza ‘absolutely desperate,’ charity warns
- Markets in the enclave are devoid of goods and people with cash are unable to find bread or vegetables to purchase, says Save the Children official
- Several aid organizations have warned that some of their staff in Gaza are starving due to low food and drinking water supplies
Arab League chief ‘deeply concerned’ over Yemen tensions
- Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit calls for solidarity among Yemen’s supporters, condemns southern separatist’s military operations
LONDON: The head of the Arab League on Tuesday said he is deeply concerned over escalating tensions in Yemen and called for solidarity among countries supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
His comments came after the military coalition that backs Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council carried out a “limited airstrike” targeting weapons and military vehicles it said were destined for southern separatist forces.
The shipments arrived in the Yemeni port of Mukalla on board two vessels from Fujairah in the UAE.
Saudi Arabia, a key member of the military coalition, criticized the UAE over its support for the separatists, known as the Southern Transitional Council.
The Kingdom said that any threat to its national security was a red line and that the UAE should follow the Yemeni government’s request to remove its forces from the country within 24 hours.
The UAE later announced it would withdraw its remaining counter-terrorism units from Yemen.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit expressed deep concern over the “serious and rapidly unfolding developments in Yemen.”
He called for solidarity among all countries supporting the Yemeni government and to exercise restraint.
He also condemned any military action aimed at “forcibly entrenching a secessionist reality on the ground, in a manner that threatens Yemen’s territorial unity.”
The STC, which wants a separate state in southern Yemen, seized large areas of territory in Hadramout and Al-Mahara provinces in recent weeks.
The STC is meant to be part of a coalition with the Yemeni government opposed to Houthi militants that control the north of the country.
Aboul Gheit said the southern Yemen issue must be addressed through dialogue.
The measures taken by Saudi Arabia and the military coalition were “vital to ensuring peace, security, and the unity of the Yemeni people under their internationally recognized leadership,” said Muslim World League Secretary-General Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa.
“Supporting illegitimate practices only deepens internal divisions and serves those who do not have Yemen’s best interests at heart,” he said.
