NEW YORK: The head of Save the Children described in horrific detail Wednesday the slow agony of starving children in Gaza, saying they are so weak they do not even cry.
Addressing a Security Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the president of the international charity, Inger Ashing, said famine — declared by the UN last week to be happening in Gaza — is not just a dry technical term.
“When there is not enough food, children become acutely malnourished, and then they die slowly and painfully. This, in simple terms, is what famine is,” said Ashing.
She went on to describe what happens when children die of hunger over the course of several weeks, as the body first consumes its own fat to survive and when that is gone, literally consumes itself as it eats muscles and vital organs.
“Yet our clinics are almost silent. Now, children do not have the strength to speak or even cry out in agony. They lie there, emaciated, quite literally wasting away,” said Ashing.
She insisted aid groups have been warning loudly that famine was coming as Israel prevented food and other essentials from entering Gaza over the course of two years of war triggered by the Hamas attack of October 2023.
“Everyone in this room has a legal and moral responsibility to act to stop this atrocity,” said Ashing.
The United Nations officially declared famine in Gaza on Friday, blaming what it called systematic obstruction of aid by Israel during more than 22 months of war.
A UN-backed hunger monitor called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative said famine was affecting 500,000 people in the Gaza governorate, which covers about a fifth of the Palestinian territory including Gaza City.
The IPC projected that the famine would expand by the end of September to cover around two-thirds of Gaza.
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NGO says starving Gaza children too weak to cry
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NGO says starving Gaza children too weak to cry
- Save the Children president describes to the UN Security Council in horrific detail the impact of famine on children in Gaza
Deal is signed in Beirut to transfer 300 Syrian prisoners in Lebanon to their home country
- Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri and Syria’s Justice Minister Mazhar Al-Wais expressed hope that this step will boost confidence and progress relations
- Lebanon and Syria have signed an agreement to transfer over 300 Syrian detainees from Lebanese prisons to continue their sentences in Syria
BEIRUT: Lebanon and Syria signed an agreement Friday to transfer more than 300 Syrians from Lebanese prisons to continue serving their sentences in their home country, a step that will likely help improve strained relations between the two neighbors.
The signing came a week after Lebanon’s Cabinet approved a treaty with Syria for the transfer of prisoners. The deal was signed at the government headquarters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, by Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri and Syria’s Justice Minister Mazhar Al-Wais.
“This is a very important first step on the road of a comprehensive treatement regarding Syrian prisoners in Lebanese prisons,” Mitri told reporters, adding that the implementation of the agreement would start on Saturday.
“Both countries want to move forward but there are some pending matters,” Al-Wais said. “This step will boost existing confidence and we hope that relations will progress more.”
Mitri said that next, officials from the two neighboring countries, will discuss the transfer of Syrian detainees who are still waiting trial in Lebanon.
Lebanon and Syria have a complicated history, with grievances on both sides. Many Lebanese resent nearly three decades of domination and military presence in their country by Syrian forces that ended in 2005.
Many Syrians resent the role played by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah when it entered Syria’s civil war that broke out in 2011 in defense of then-President Bashar Assad and his government. Assad was overthrown in December 2024 and fled to Russia where he is now in exile.
After Assad’s fall, relations with Syria’s new Islamist-led authorities remained tense and skirmishes occurred along the unmarked border between the two nations.
Mitri also said Saturday’s signing was “an expression of a joint political will that states that the Lebanese-Syrian relations are based on confidence and mutual respect.”
Asked whether the deal will include Lebanese citizens such as Sunni Muslim cleric Ahmed Al-Assir, Mitri said that it only covers Syrian prisoners.
There are about 2,500 Syrian prisoners in Lebanese prisons and jails, some of whom are held on charges related to their involvement with armed opposition groups that sought to overthrow Assad — in some cases, the same groups that are now ruling Syria.
Earlier this week, Mitri told The Associated Press that most of the detainees who will be transferred to Syria were not convicted of violent crimes. Some of those convicted of violent crimes may be transferred if they have already served seven and a half years of their sentence in Lebanon, he said.
The signing came a week after Lebanon’s Cabinet approved a treaty with Syria for the transfer of prisoners. The deal was signed at the government headquarters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, by Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri and Syria’s Justice Minister Mazhar Al-Wais.
“This is a very important first step on the road of a comprehensive treatement regarding Syrian prisoners in Lebanese prisons,” Mitri told reporters, adding that the implementation of the agreement would start on Saturday.
“Both countries want to move forward but there are some pending matters,” Al-Wais said. “This step will boost existing confidence and we hope that relations will progress more.”
Mitri said that next, officials from the two neighboring countries, will discuss the transfer of Syrian detainees who are still waiting trial in Lebanon.
Lebanon and Syria have a complicated history, with grievances on both sides. Many Lebanese resent nearly three decades of domination and military presence in their country by Syrian forces that ended in 2005.
Many Syrians resent the role played by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah when it entered Syria’s civil war that broke out in 2011 in defense of then-President Bashar Assad and his government. Assad was overthrown in December 2024 and fled to Russia where he is now in exile.
After Assad’s fall, relations with Syria’s new Islamist-led authorities remained tense and skirmishes occurred along the unmarked border between the two nations.
Mitri also said Saturday’s signing was “an expression of a joint political will that states that the Lebanese-Syrian relations are based on confidence and mutual respect.”
Asked whether the deal will include Lebanese citizens such as Sunni Muslim cleric Ahmed Al-Assir, Mitri said that it only covers Syrian prisoners.
There are about 2,500 Syrian prisoners in Lebanese prisons and jails, some of whom are held on charges related to their involvement with armed opposition groups that sought to overthrow Assad — in some cases, the same groups that are now ruling Syria.
Earlier this week, Mitri told The Associated Press that most of the detainees who will be transferred to Syria were not convicted of violent crimes. Some of those convicted of violent crimes may be transferred if they have already served seven and a half years of their sentence in Lebanon, he said.
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