International
Jamer Elder, UNICEF spokesman, from Gaza: “Children are as thin as paper”
“Children are thin as paper due to malnutrition,” laments James Elder, UNICEF spokesman who is currently in the Gaza Strip, where he has been able to travel north and witness the famine that is already looming over his population and that has claimed the lives of 27 children.
“We are beginning to see how children die of hunger, in the crudest literal sense,” he said in a telephone interview with EFE from Rafah, after having visited the Kamal Adwan hospital, in the north of the enclave, and having contemplated the total devastation in Gaza City or Jan Yunis.
More than twenty babies have died from malnutrition and dehydration in the last month: “Children are as thin as paper, and mothers and grandmothers are tied to their beds, crying, begging them to endure one more day.”
“I have never seen in my 20 years at the United Nations, a place where the nutritional situation has worsened so much in such a short time, to the point where we have caused a famine,” explained Elder, who already entered the Strip last December in the middle of the war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas.
Last week the UN published a report that establishes that half of the population of the Strip is at “imminent” risk of suffering catastrophic famine, while the enclave does not receive even half of the basic humanitarian aid it needs, much less in the north.
Hunger did not exist in Gaza six months ago and now, one in three children under the age of two suffers acute malnutrition – twice as much as last January – due to a crisis that is worsening at high speed, according to the UNICEF spokesman.
Precisely, the Commissioner General of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, denounced yesterday that Israel had communicated to the United Nations that it was not going to authorize more humanitarian convoys from UNRWA – which he accuses without convincing evidence of ties to Hamas – to the north, where hunger is already a reality.
The visit to the Kamal Adwan, in Beit Lahia – in the northern part of the enclave – has been one of the experiences that has most marked this humanitarian worker.
“People’s ability to survive has been destroyed; access to water and food has deteriorated as the bombings have continued. Fewer and fewer hospitals operate at a time when more and more children need medical attention,” Elder summarized about how the situation has worsened since his previous visit inside the enclave.
“The families have had to move again because of the fighting. The stress of leaving even more things behind, moving fewer and fewer belongings. I’ve never seen entire cities crumbled and annihilated,” he adds.
However, Elder sees a glimmer of hope, and that is that famine is “avoidable and reversible” since it has been provoked by man, and can still be solved with political will.
“Opening more ground access routes is a simple first solution,” he said.
At the moment Israel, after subjecting it to exhaustive controls, only allows the entry of humanitarian aid through two of the nine crossings in the Gaza Strip – Kerem Shalom and Rafah, bordering Egypt -, both in the south, so humanitarian agencies need security guarantees to be able to reach the north and convoys have frequently been subjected to attacks, in addition to the destruction of roads.
According to the Government of Gaza, controlled by Hamas, about 560 people have died in attacks on trucks or food warehouses or in incidents related to the distribution of aid, as happened on February 29 in the so-called “flour massacre”, in which 118 Gazans died and more than 700 were injured in a chaotic distribution of aid in Gaza City in which Israel admitted to having opened fire.
Elder acknowledged that the difficulties in distributing aid in the Gaza Strip are endless, nothing compared to the problems in other places of conflict such as Afghanistan, Somalia or Ukraine.
“It’s getting harder and harder to find words to describe what I see,” he lamented.
International
Seven bodies found with signs of torture in Sinaloa
Mexican authorities discovered seven lifeless bodies on Wednesday, showing clear signs of torture, in the rural area of Culiacán, Sinaloa, just one day after the same number of bodies was found in several municipalities in the western state of Mexico.
Six of these seven victims were found along the side of the highway that connects Culiacán to Mazatlán, near Laguna de Canachi, according to local media reports, which also noted that messages addressed to a criminal group were found near the bodies.
This brings the total number of violent deaths in the region to seven within just 24 hours. On Tuesday, authorities reported more victims found in the municipalities of Culiacán, Elota, and Mazatlán.
Among the victims identified was a local cattle rancher named Ramón Velázquez Ontiveros, as well as a police officer from Mazatlán, who was killed by a motorcyclist outside his home in San Marcos.
International
Málaga paralyzed by new storm as torrential rains hit Spain
Thousands of people were evacuated and trains were suspended as torrential rains once again struck Spain on Wednesday, following the devastating floods that killed at least 223 people two weeks ago, most of them in the Valencia region.
The national meteorological agency (Aemet) issued a maximum, red-level alert for the Andalusian province of Málaga in the south, and for Tarragona in the northeast, due to the new DANA (isolated depression at high levels), also known as a cold drop.
The city of Málaga appeared to be the hardest hit by the rains, with more than 3,000 people evacuated from 1,000 homes near rivers, flooded streets, and the suspension of urban transport and train services to Madrid.
“Today Málaga is paralyzed,” said Andalusia’s regional president, Juan Manuel Moreno, to reporters. “I know it is a problem for citizens not being able to take their children to school or go to work, but after what we saw in Valencia, we need to ‘prevent’ and minimize the impact in terms of loss of life,” he added.
The storm also led to the postponement of a match between Spain and Poland in the Billie Jean King Cup women’s tennis competition, which was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Málaga.
International
Hezbollah launches explosive drone strike on Israel’s defense headquarters
The Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah claimed on Wednesday that it launched an attack with explosive drones against the Israeli army’s headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The Iran-backed organization reported in a statement that it had carried out “an aerial attack with a squadron of explosive drones” targeting the site that houses Israel’s main defense institutions.
Hezbollah later stated that it also fired a barrage of rockets at the Glilot military intelligence base in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
The Israeli military indicated that “sirens sounded in several areas of northern and central Israel following the launch of projectiles from Lebanon.”
It later clarified that “five projectiles were identified over the territory, and some were intercepted.”
-
Central America3 days ago
Bukele begins official visit to Costa Rica based on security, cooperation and trade
-
Central America2 days ago
Nicaraguan Naval Force seizes cocaine on Pacific Coast, suspects escape
-
Central America2 days ago
El Salvador delivers aid to Costa Rica amid severe flooding and red alerts
-
Central America2 days ago
Bukele urges Costa Rica to reform prison system amid rising crime rates
-
International2 days ago
Marco Rubio considered for Secretary of State in Trump administration, reports say
-
International3 days ago
Daniel Ortega turns 79: 29 in power, 17 “governing from below”, and 7 in prison
-
International2 days ago
Sheinbaum pledges support for mexican migrants amid U.S. border enforcement plans
-
International3 days ago
Le procureur vénézuélien dénonce une campagne visant à présenter les “criminels” comme prisonniers politiques
-
International3 days ago
Les migrants qui ont été retenus en Albanie par le gouvernement de Meloni arriveront ce soir en Italie
-
International3 days ago
Shooting at Tuskegee University leaves one dead and several injured
-
International3 days ago
A US flight to Haiti is deflected after being shot when approaching Port-au-Prince
-
International2 days ago
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency
-
International2 days ago
President-elect Trump chooses Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense
-
International17 hours ago
Málaga paralyzed by new storm as torrential rains hit Spain
-
Internacionales2 days ago
Mexico deploys 12,000 security agents to Guerrero amid escalating violence
-
International3 days ago
Irish mobster Hutch is rending for general elections after arrest in Spain
-
International17 hours ago
Ecuadorian judge orders preventive detention for nine inmates after deadly prison clashes
-
Internacionales3 days ago
Tropical storm Rafael weakens over gulf of Mexico after devastating Cuba
-
International17 hours ago
Seven bodies found with signs of torture in Sinaloa
-
International3 days ago
Trump appoints an ally without experience in the sector to the environmental agency
-
International17 hours ago
Hezbollah launches explosive drone strike on Israel’s defense headquarters
-
International17 hours ago
Trump nominates Matt Gaetz as attorney general
-
International17 hours ago
Santiago Uribe cleared of homicide and paramilitary charges
-
International3 days ago
The court of El Salvador postpones the preliminary hearing for the massacre of Jesuit parents in 1989
-
International17 hours ago
Marco Rubio to become first latino U.S. diplomacy chief under Trump