{"id":11142,"date":"2024-05-04T18:39:48","date_gmt":"2024-05-04T18:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/?p=11142"},"modified":"2024-05-04T18:40:43","modified_gmt":"2024-05-04T18:40:43","slug":"northern-gaza-in-full-blown-famine-senior-un-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/northern-gaza-in-full-blown-famine-senior-un-official\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Gaza in ‘full-blown’ famine: Senior UN official"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joshua Askew<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) director said the comprehensive famine in northern Gaza might spread south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern Gaza is experiencing “full-blown” famine, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) Director Cindy McCain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Whenever you have conflicts like this, and emotions rage high, and things happen in a war, famine happens,” she said during an interview with NBC aired on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What I can explain to you is – is that there is famine – full-blown famine – in the north.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCain warned mass starvation was “moving its way south”, where the vast majority of Gaza’s population has fled fighting between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN has claimed since mid-March that northern Gaza is “nearing” a state of famine, though the organisation has not yet officially stated one had begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human Rights Watch recently reported that children were dying<\/strong><\/a> from starvation-related complications in Gaza, claiming Israel was using starvation as a “weapon of war” – a war crime under international law.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Palestinians
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip make tea at the makeshift tent camp in the Muwasi area on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023.<\/em>Fatima Shbair\/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also said in March that Israel was “provoking famine” as a weapon of war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli officials have rejected these accusations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WFP Director McCain pointed to severe food shortages and food insecurity in northern Gaza, saying the people needed  “water, sanitation, medicine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said the WFP had seen \u201creal horror” on the ground, which was “very difficult to look at or hear”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senior UN official called for a ceasefire as a way of feeding people “in a much faster fashion.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contestation over the cause of food insecurity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Israel has been repeatedly accused of blocking or obstructing aid deliveries to northern Gaza, though humanitarian organisations have said the number of lorries being let in has increased since May. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aid convoys carrying vital have also reportedly<\/strong><\/a> been fired upon by Israeli forces, while others have been looted by desperate crowds and criminal gangs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

World Central Kitchen, a US-based nonprofit group, resumed operations on Monday after seven of its aid workers were killed by an Israeli airstrike in April. It has distributed over 43 million meals across Gaza. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel has denied such claims. It instead blamed the UN and other international organisations for logistical problems and delays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to let more aid into Gaza, amid claims by international organisations only a fraction of the aid needed was getting in.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said earlier this week there had been incremental progress toward averting \u201can entirely preventable, human-made famine\u201d in the northern Gaza Strip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He urged the international community to \u201cdo everything possible” to avert a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Source: Euronews)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joshua Askew The UN World Food Programme (WFP) director said the comprehensive famine in northern Gaza might spread south. Northern Gaza is experiencing “full-blown” famine, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) Director Cindy McCain. “Whenever you have conflicts like this, and emotions rage high, and things happen in a war, famine happens,” she …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":11143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[307,185,172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main-news","category-palestinian-affairs","category-172"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11145,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11142\/revisions\/11145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}