Famine in Gaza due to ‘restricted and compromised’ aid deliveries, UN official says
Joyce Msuya, UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator, told the Security Council that “over half a million people currently face starvation, destitution and death” in Gaza.
“By the end of September, that number could exceed 640,000. … Virtually no one in Gaza is untouched by hunger,” Msuya said.
She explained that the famine was the result of more than 22 months of “restricted and compromised” deliveries of desperately needed humanitarian aid, a weakened healthcare system, poor sanitation and hygiene, and a lack of adequate shelter.
Despite an uptick in trucks entering the enclave, Msuya said, much more was needed to feed Gaza’s people and all restrictions must be lifted.
Msuya called on the council to “immediately ensure” an end to the fighting in Gaza to stop the famine from spreading, release all captives, and protect civilians and critical infrastructure.
Killed journalist Mariam Abu Daqqa’s ‘armour was her press vest, her weapon a camera’
Amar Bendjama, permanent representative of Algeria to the UN, has shown the UN Security Council a picture of Mariam Abu Daqqa, a 33-year-old Palestinian journalist killed in Israel’s attack on Monday on Nasser Hospital.
“Her armour was her press vest, her weapon a camera,” he said as he held the photo aloft.
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from UN headquarters in New York, said that as Bendjama “held up that photo, he said, ‘Let me read to you the goodbye letter she left to her only son,’ and as he was reading her words, he choked up and started to hold back tears”.
“You could hear a pin drop in the Security Council chambers as he was doing this, and it just shows how this is very emotional for many of these ambassadors and how this was a moment, really, to honour the journalists and remember the sacrifice they gave,” Elizondo said.
Bendjama held up a copy of this photo of Mariam Abu Daqqa ,taken on June 14, 2024
‘Thousands of Palestinian children are with us in this room’
Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, is now speaking at the Security Council. He said that there are “thousands of Palestinian children are with us in this room. I see them. I feel them,” he said, his voice quivering from emotion.
“They are angels. They’re coming to you and listening to all of you, and I’m grateful to almost all of you who said so many good things, and you demanded immediate ceasefire,” he said.
“Those angels who do not know hatred, they are extending their hands to you. We want peace. We want ceasefire. We want food. We want medicine. We want to stop this war permanently,” Mansour said.
