.-') _ .-') _ | |
( OO ) ) ( OO ) ) | |
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,' | |
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\ | |
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | ) | |
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/ | |
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ | | |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ | | |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--' | |
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
/ | |
‘Full-blown famine’ happening in Gaza, WFP warns, amid fresh push | |
for truce | |
By Kathleen Magramo, Mitchell McCluskey and Jennifer Hansler, CNN | |
Updated: | |
7:46 AM EDT, Sun May 5, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Northern Gaza is experiencing a “full-blown famine” which is | |
rapidly spreading across the strip after almost seven months of war, | |
the World Food Programme warned, as in hopes of agreeing a ceasefire in | |
the conflict raging in the territory. | |
The remarks have brought into sharp focus the scale of the humanitarian | |
catastrophe unfolding. | |
“Whenever you have conflicts like this, and emotions rage high, and | |
things happen in a war, famine happens,” the WFP’s Executive | |
DIrector Cindy McCain told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in a clip | |
released ahead of the interview airing on Sunday. | |
“What I can explain to you is – is that there is famine – | |
full-blown famine – in the north, and it’s moving its way south.” | |
While McCain’s remarks do not constitute an official declaration of | |
famine, she said they were based on what WFP staff have seen on the | |
ground. | |
“It’s horror,” she said of the situation in Gaza. “It’s so | |
hard to look at and it’s so hard to hear.” | |
McCain said the WFP is asking for a ceasefire and “unfettered | |
access” to Gaza as delivering aid to the territory has been extremely | |
difficult. | |
Israel has faced increasing pressure in recent weeks to allow aid into | |
Gaza after its killed seven staffers of , a US-based charity. | |
Human rights agencies have long warned of a spiraling humanitarian | |
crisis in Gaza under Israel’s military assault, launched in response | |
to the Hamas-led October 7 attacks. More than 34,600 Palestinians have | |
been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza as of May 1, according to the | |
Gaza health ministry. | |
Over the course of the war, more than 1.9 million Palestinians have | |
been forcibly displaced, according to the UN, with many sheltering in | |
cramped tent camps that cannot offer enough access to sanitation or | |
food. The entire population of more than 2.2 million people is now at | |
risk of famine, and at least 30 children have already died of | |
malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza, according to the health ministry. | |
Concerns are also heightened over an anticipated Israeli military | |
operation in southern Gaza’s Rafah, prompting renewed calls for a | |
ceasefire. | |
As negotiations continued in Cairo, Hamas political bureau leader� | |
Ismail Haniyeh issued a statement Sunday saying that “the Hamas | |
movement is still keen to reach a comprehensive, interconnected | |
agreement that ends the aggression, guarantees withdrawal [of the | |
Israeli military from Gaza], and achieves a serious prisoner exchange | |
deal.” | |
Haniyeh said that the delegation carried “positive and flexible | |
positions” aimed at stopping “the aggression against our people, | |
which is a fundamental and logical position that lays the foundation | |
for a more stable future.” A Hamas delegation arrived in Egypt on | |
Saturday for discussions on a possible ceasefire and hostage deal. | |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video statement | |
accusing Hamas of making unacceptable demands in the negotiations. | |
He said Israel had “demonstrated a willingness to go a long way” | |
but “Hamas remained entrenched in its extreme positions, chief among | |
them the demand to withdraw all our forces from the Strip, end the war, | |
and leave Hamas intact.” | |
“The State of Israel cannot accept this,” Netanyahu continued. | |
“Israel will not agree to Hamas’s demands, which mean surrender, | |
and will continue the fighting until all its goals are achieved.” | |
Potential Rafah operation | |
US officials currently assess that a limited number of tents are | |
currently being constructed in southern Gaza for the purpose of | |
temporarily sheltering civilians who would be moved out of Rafah in the | |
case of an incursion by the Israel Defense Forces, according to a | |
senior administration official on Friday. | |
However, the official stressed that the tents that are being built are | |
nowhere near the amount that would be needed to house the more than 1 | |
million people who would seek shelter. | |
“[There is] no sign that they are imminently able to, willing or | |
ready to go into Rafah,” the official said of Israeli forces. | |
“Certainly they’re not prepared for the care and the feeding and | |
the sustenance of a million and a half people.” | |
The about its plans for evacuating civilians from Rafah, according to a | |
source familiar with the matter. The government warned that a Rafah | |
operation was coming but did not provide any sort of timeline and | |
didn’t suggest it was imminent. | |
US and Israeli officials have said any potential agreement on a | |
framework that would bring both a temporary ceasefire and a release of | |
hostages held by Hamas in Gaza would likely be followed by continued | |
negotiations over the finer details. | |
A final deal between Israel and Hamas is expected to take several more | |
days to negotiate in the Egyptian capital. | |
<- back to index |