‘A moral scar on our shared humanity’: Charity condemns starvation deaths of Gaza’s children

Save the Children has condemned the deaths of 100 children due to Israel-imposed starvation in Gaza, calling it “a devastating milestone that shames the world”.

“What kind of a world have we built to let at least 100 children be starved to death while the food, water and medical supplies to save them wait just miles away at a border crossing?” Ahmad Alhendawi, the charity’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, said in a statement.

“Children in Gaza are being starved by design by Israeli authorities. This was a wholly predictable and avoidable tragedy that humanitarian organisations have been warning about for months.”

Alhendawi added: “Nearly two years of war and a chokehold on lifesaving aid have condemned children to mass deaths, suffering, and shattered futures – all of which are entirely preventable.”

“All available evidence indicates that the Government of Israel is using starvation as a method of warfare – a war crime under international law,” he said, adding that Israeli authorities are obliged to provide aid to civilians and protect them.

The international community, he said, “is obliged to ensure that and enforce international law across the board. This dereliction of legal duty is on all of us. This is a moral scar on our shared humanity and shames the world.”


_{Displaced three-year-old Palestinian Edhem Mohammed Abu Urmana struggles to survive in a tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza on August 8, 2025. The death toll from Israel-induced starvation has risen to 217}

The problem is there is no shared humanity, most people are just in it for themselves.

‘Exponential increase’ in malnutrition in Gaza

We can now bring you more from Ahmed Alhendawi, Save the Children International’s director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Alhendawi said his team on the ground in Gaza is seeing an “exponential increase” in the number of malnutrition cases, a reality that will have far-reaching impacts on people in the enclave.

“This is not one event. This is not the absence of two or three meals. This is an accumulation of months [of deprivation],” he told Al Jazeera.

The effects of such widespread malnutrition can “span generations” and require “sustained aid” – rather than piecemeal support – to even begin to reverse, Alhendawi said.

“We can help alleviate the suffering of children in Gaza, but we cannot do that if the government of Israel continues to impose all its limitations” on aid groups, he said.

‘Heartbreaking’: Paramedic describes putting children in body bags in Gaza

A British paramedic has spoken about the moment he placed two dead children in body bags shortly after arriving in Gaza, as hospitals grapple with mass casualties from Israel’s ongoing assault.

Sam Sears, 44, from Kettering in England, spent three weeks with UK-based medical charity UK-Med, which operates in Gaza with support from the British government.

Speaking to PA Media, he said the situation was a “conveyor belt of carnage”, with a constant flow of patients suffering blast, shrapnel and gunshot wounds.

On his first night, Sears was thrown into a mass casualty incident where two children – aged nine and 11 – died from blast injuries. “It was particularly heartbreaking putting a child in a body bag, seeing their face for the last time, then moving them out [of] the way so we could treat more people,” said Sears, who returned to the UK on July 31.

He described treating children who had lost entire families, teenagers with life-changing wounds and newborns suffering severe malnutrition because their mothers could not produce enough milk. One boy, aged about eight, was “lifeless behind the eyes” after an explosion killed his whole family.

Some 600 trucks needed daily in Gaza, but Israel allowed an average of 86 per day over last 2 weeks

The Government Media Office in Gaza said only 1,210 aid trucks entered Gaza over the past 14 days. Officials said this represents just 14 percent of the territory’s actual needs – a total of 8,400 trucks.

Aid groups have been seeking the entry of at least 600 trucks daily to address the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s curbs on aid delivery.

The majority of trucks, they added, were “subjected to looting and robbery amidst the artificial security chaos pursued by the Israeli occupation, as part of a systematic policy of ‘engineering starvation and chaos’, with the aim of breaking the will of the Palestinian people and undermining their steadfastness”.

The daily breakdown provided was:

• July 27, 2025: 73 trucks
• July 28, 2025: 87 trucks
• July 29, 2025: 109 trucks
• July 30, 2025: 112 trucks
• July 31, 2025: 104 trucks
• August 1, 2025: 73 trucks
• August 2, 2025: 36 trucks
• August 3, 2025: 80 trucks
• August 4, 2025: 95 trucks
• August 5, 2025: 84 trucks
• August 6, 2025: 92 trucks
• August 7, 2025: 87 trucks
• August 8, 2025: 83 trucks
• August 9, 2025: 95 trucks

Over the two-week period, the average number of trucks entering Gaza each day was 86.

So Europe only asked Israel to starve Gaza a little slower... No action.


'Only 10 percent of baby formulas, supplements needed in Gaza allowed by Israel’

Despite tens of thousands of children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza, only 10 percent of the required baby formulas and supplements have been allowed into the enclave, Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, tells Al Jazeera.

“There is no milk,” he said, adding that 55,000 infants cannot be breast-fed by their mothers.

“I cannot separate the issue of many malnutrition from the thirst, from the diseases”, he said.

Shawa said children’s immune systems are also suffering because of the malnutrition, and they are suffering from numerous “diseases” exacerbated by pollution and a lack of water and hygiene in the enclave.

Children are also forced to sleep in humid conditions in tents, many of which are in dire need of replacement. But no new tents have arrived in Gaza since March, he explained.

There is also the psychological trauma that the children are suffering from, which, with everything accounted for, creates a “package of suffering” that Gaza’s children are experiencing, Shawa said.

_{Palestinian girl Huda Abu al-Naja lies on a bed as she receives treatment at the malnutrition ward at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis}

Mothers ‘seeing their children dying’

We’ve heard from mothers who are unable to breastfeed and, with no baby formula, are forced to give their babies water. Palestinian mothers are also only able to feed their children every few days. They are forced to put them to sleep hungry. They’re seeing their children dying.

Hundreds march for an end to Gaza genocide in Santiago, Chile


_{Hundreds of people participated in a ‘Las Ollas Vacias’ empty pots protest against Israel’s war on Gaza in Santiago on Saturday}

Thousands protest in Istanbul against Israeli atrocities in Gaza

Thousands gathered in the Turkish city, marching from Beyazit Square to Hagia Sofia mosque to show their support for the Palestinian people, reported Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu from the rally.

The protesters hope they “will put some pressure on the international community and the UN Security Council to take more solid steps against Israel to stop its aggression”, said Koseoglu.

Dursun Kiziltan, one of the protesters, said he was outraged that “this atrocity [in Gaza] is being committed right before the world’s eyes.

“The so-called civilised world remains silent. A world that worries about three whales trapped in the ocean says nothing as thousands of people are victimised and left to die of hunger,” he said.

Norwegians call for divestment from Israel at protest in Oslo

_{The protest came as the Norwegian government on Tuesday said it would review its sovereign wealth fund’s investment in Israel. The government’s announcement came after Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten revealed the Norwegian fund invested in Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd, which provides parts to Israeli fighter jets.}

74-year-old woman arrested for wearing Palestine Action T-shirt released

A 74-year-old woman arrested in Belfast for wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt during an antiracism demonstration has been freed, police said. She was arrested on Saturday in the city’s Linenhall Street area on suspicion of possessing an item that “indicates support for a proscribed organisation”.

The British government has banned Palestine Action by making membership or expressions of support for the group a criminal offence under “terrorism” legislation. Since its establishment in 2020, the UK-based campaign group has carried out hundreds of protests at companies linked to Israeli military operations.

In London the same day, police arrested 466 people at a protest in Parliament Square for allegedly backing the banned group. The ban on the campaign group has been criticised by civil society as “illegitimate and unethical”. Rights group Amnesty called the move an “unprecedented legal overreach”.

Footage from Belfast shared online shows officers telling the woman she was being arrested for wearing the T-shirt. Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland director for Amnesty International UK, called the arrest “outrageous”, saying: “Peaceful protest is a basic human right.”

Pro-Palestine activists, including Greta Thunberg, bring Gaza solidarity to music festival

British singer Sam Fender invited a group of pro-Palestinian campaigners – among them Swedish activist Greta Thunberg – on stage during a music festival in Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, yesterday.

Waving Palestinian flags, the group called out Israel for using “starvation as a weapon of war” and attacking people trying to get food.

“The world is watching,” said Thunberg, who was recently among 12 activists arrested by Israel while sailing on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid ship, before being deported. She then led the crowd in chants of “Free, free Palestine”.

Israeli captives’ relatives call for general strike to ‘stop the war’

A group of family members of Israeli captives has announced plans for a nationwide strike on August 17 to protest against the government’s aims to expand the war in Gaza, according to Israeli media reports.

The general strike – involving private firms, labour unions and citizens allied with the cause – aims to stop economic activities for the day, Israel’s Arutz Sheva media reported.

Anat Angrest, a mother of an Israeli captive, urged the public to join the strike. “I know that the heart we share hurts, but it’s not enough. Silence kills,” she said at a news conference, according to Arutz Sheva. “That’s why I’m here today to ask for what I’ve avoided until now, to ask the leaders of the economy. You have the power. Your silence is killing our children.”

Reut Recht-Edri, whose son Ido Edri was killed during the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, was quoted by The Times of Israel as saying: “We will all pause next Sunday and say: ‘Enough. Stop the war. Return the hostages.’ It is in our hands.”

Antiwar activists storm Big Brother live broadcast in Israel

A group of Israeli activists have stormed a live television broadcast to protest against the continuation of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Wearing “Leave Gaza” T-shirts, several young members of the Standing Together activist group jumped onto the stage and sat on the floor during the airing of the Big Brother show on Channel 13.

In a social media post, Standing Together said its members “gave a speech against the government’s plan to continue the horrors in Gaza, a plan that will kill the hostages, kill the Palestinians in Gaza, and kill the soldiers”.

It added: “There is no normalcy alongside this reality, no business as usual.”

עומדים ביחד התפרצו לשידור חי של האח הגדול
עם מסר ברור
עצרו את המלחמה, הצילו את החטופים pic.twitter.com/WuFMY2VGUV

— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) August 9, 2025

Israel’s Supreme Court orders government to respond to captives’ families

Several family members of captives still held in Gaza have filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court, demanding clarification.

They wish to be formally informed about how governmental discretion is exercised in connection with “determining the conditions for ending the war and releasing the hostages”, according to Israeli media.

The court has now decided that the state is required to submit its response by August 24.

Tens of thousands of protesters have been taking to the streets in Tel Aviv and other cities in Israel every week to call for an immediate end to the war and the release of all captives. A group of families is now pursuing a general strike to further pressure the government to agree to a deal.

Netanyahu outlines ‘five principles for concluding the war’

Addressing the news media, Netanyahu repeats his pledge that Israel will oust Hamas from power and take over security control of Gaza, including by establishing a “security zone” on its boundary with Israel.

He put forward what he called “five principles for concluding the war”:

Britain, Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia: Israel must ‘reverse’ decision to seize Gaza City

The countries that have called today’s session of the UN Security Council have issued a joint statement that condemns Israel’s plan to seize Gaza City, saying that it risks “violating international humanitarian law” and will “only endanger the lives of all civilians in Gaza”.

“We call on Israel to urgently reverse this decision and not to implement” the plan, the statement reads.

It goes on to say that Israel’s decision will do nothing to secure the return of the remaining captives still held in Gaza, and would even endanger their lives.

The countries also called the current starvation of Gaza a “manmade crisis”, and said that “urgent action is needed to halt starvation and to surge aid into Gaza”.

“We have a clear message for Israel: lift restrictions on aid delivery to allow the UN and established humanitarian partners to operate safely and at scale, in line with the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence”, the statement says.

Israeli plans will ‘trigger another calamity in Gaza’: UN official

The situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, placing Palestinians in peril and further endangering the lives of the captives, Miroslav Jenca, the UN assistant secretary-general for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, has told the UN Security Council.

The latest plans for Gaza by the government of Israel risk “igniting another horrific chapter in this conflict, with potential consequences beyond Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory”, he said in his opening remarks.

Jenca pointed out that details are not finalised yet, but the government foresees the displacement of all civilians from Gaza City by October 7, 2025, affecting some 800,000 people, many of them previously displaced. The Israeli army would then surround the city for three months, followed by an additional two months to seize control of central Gaza’s camps.

“We are already witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe of unimaginable scale in Gaza,” he said.

“If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings and destruction, compounding the unbearable suffering of the population.”

‘This is starvation, pure and simple’: UN aid coordinator

Ramesh Rajasingham, the director of the coordination division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has just addressed the Security Council via video link. Here is a summary of his main points:

More from the emergency UNSC meeting

We have more from UN official Miroslav Jenca, who said the only way to stop the humanitarian suffering in Gaza is a full, immediate and permanent ceasefire.

“All hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law, allowing rapid, safe, unimpeded and large-scale delivery of humanitarian aid to the population,” Jenca told the UNSC.

He said civilians, including humanitarian workers and those seeking aid, must be protected, and Palestinians must be able to return to their homes.

The UN official noted that the International Court of Justice stated that Israel, as the occupying power, has the obligation not to impede the Palestinian people from their right to self-determination, including the right to an independent and sovereign state over the entirety of the Palestinian territories.

“There is no military solution to the armed conflict in Gaza, or the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There will be no sustainable solution without an end to Israel’s unlawful occupation and the achievement of a viable two-state solution,” he said.

Jenca urged the Palestinian Authority to proceed with holding elections to determine its future governance, saying the Palestinian people have a right to decide for themselves.

UK says Israeli military escalation will do nothing to end Gaza war

James Kariuki, the UK’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, has delivered a strong statement to the Security Council, calling Israel’s decision to seize Gaza City “wrong” and urging it to “reconsider immediately”.

“Expanding military operations will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict. It will not secure the release of the hostages. It will only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” Kariuki said.

“This is not a path to resolution. It is a path to more bloodshed,” he added, saying the plan would displace nearly 1 million Palestinians.

“This inhumanity cannot be justified,” he said of the Israeli-imposed famine in the Gaza Strip. “The partial aid access Israel granted in late July has proven woefully inadequate. We have a clear message for Israel: Urgently and permanently lift all restrictions on aid delivery.”

France urges Israel to reverse Gaza military takeover plan

France has condemned Israel’s plan to expand military operations to take control of Gaza City and eventually the entire Gaza Strip, warning it would amount to “further violations of international law of an extreme severity”.

France’s Deputy Permanent Representative Jay Dharmadhikari said Paris “condemns in the strongest possible terms” the plan, which he said would have “dramatic humanitarian consequences” for civilians already “living in horrifying conditions”.

“The images of children dying of hunger or civilians being targeted as they tried to find food are unbearable,” Dharmadhikari said, urging Israel to comply with international humanitarian law, protect civilians and infrastructure, and “urgently open up all crossing points” for safe, unhindered aid delivery.

Dharmadhikari also reiterated France’s call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire on Gaza.

US accused of trying to block UN Security Council meeting

There’s no resolution on the table. That is because the US could veto, or potentially threaten to veto, any sort of binding resolution, as they’ve done five times in the last 22 months.

So the point of this meeting is to bring the UN Security Council together, and for each member of the Security Council to voice their country’s and their national opinion within the confines of the council chamber.

As we’ve mentioned before, it’s very rare to have these meetings on a Sunday. It has happened in the past, particularly over Gaza, but not usually. Emergency meetings on the weekend are only reserved for the most urgent of matters.

Diplomatic sources told Al Jazeera it was the United States, in the past 24 to 36 hours, that was trying to actively block this meeting from taking place. I think that this genocide in Gaza has brought out a lot of public, but also private, frustration among diplomats, particularly on the Security Council.

US says UN Security Council meeting undermines peace efforts, blames Hamas

Dorothy Shea, US interim ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council (UNSC) that the meeting is “emblematic of the counterproductive role that far too many governments on this council and throughout the UN system have played on the issue”.

She claimed that the US has been working tirelessly to free those held in Gaza, end the war and give civilians in Gaza a future free of Hamas.

To do so, Shea said, “We need to place responsibility with Hamas” and hold it and other Gaza “terrorist” organisations fully accountable. The UNSC meeting undermines those efforts, the envoy said.

Avoiding mention of Israel’s numerous violations of ceasefire deals, Shea said Israel has accepted three ceasefire proposals so far, while Hamas consistently rejected them and is therefore not negotiating in good faith.

“The simple truth is that this war could end today if Hamas would let the hostages and all of Gaza go free,” Shea said, adding that Hamas and other countries are actively prolonging the war by “spreading lies” about Israel and the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

‘Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people’: China’s UN envoy

Fu Cong, the permanent representative of China at the UN, has just spoken at the emergency Security Council session. In his speech, he said China firmly opposes any attempt by Israel to “occupy” Gaza.

“Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people. It is an integral part of the Palestinian territory. Any action that seeks to alter its demographic and territorial structure must be met with utmost rejection and resistance,” he said.

“The illusion of military supremacy must be abandoned. … An immediate ceasefire is the only right way to save lives and secure the release of hostages. Continually escalated military offensives in Gaza will only lead to more killings and deaths,” Fu stated.

“The Israeli government needs to listen to the case of both [the] international community and its people, immediately stop escalating tensions and put an end to its military operations in Gaza,” he said.

Cong slammed as “unacceptable” the “weaponisation” of humanitarian aid and the “collective punishment” of Palestinians in Gaza. “Attacking civilians and humanitarian workers as they search for supplies is equally unacceptable,” Fu said.

“It is crucial to reinvigorate the prospect of the two-state solution, … the only viable path to resolving the Palestinian question and achieving peaceful coexistence,” he concluded.

Palestinians in Gaza ‘enduring unbearable agony the human mind can barely comprehend’: Palestinian UN envoy

Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour has just spoken at the Security Council session. Here is a quick summary of what he said:

‘The pressure should not be placed on Israel … but on Hamas’: Israel’s deputy UN envoy

Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN Jonathan Miller has just spoken at the UN Security Council (UNSC) session. Here is a quick summary of what he said: