Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from man-made “mass starvation” due to the aid blockade on the enclave, the chief of the World Health Organization warned reporters at a briefing on Wednesday.
“Parents tell us their children cry themselves to sleep from hunger,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “Food distribution sites have become places of violence.”
More than 100 humanitarian organizations have signed a joint letter calling on Israel to restore the full flow of food, clean water, and medical supplies to Gaza.
Scores of people — most of them children — have died of malnutrition since the conflict began in October 2023, the Palestinian health ministry says.
Israel 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.
Israel has said it is allowing ample aid into the besieged Palestinian territory, but aid agencies and multiple Western nations say the amount of food reaching Gaza’s population under strict Israeli control is a fraction of what is needed.
The United Nations World Food Program has warned that famine is looming and that 70,000 children in Gaza need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition.
Here are some of the stories that made headlines over the past week, as well as some photos that caught our eye.
