WHO: Gaza Population 'Starving to Death'

A man holds the Palestinian flag during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Mosul, Iraq, October 14, 2023. (Reuters)
A man holds the Palestinian flag during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Mosul, Iraq, October 14, 2023. (Reuters)
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WHO: Gaza Population 'Starving to Death'

A man holds the Palestinian flag during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Mosul, Iraq, October 14, 2023. (Reuters)
A man holds the Palestinian flag during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Mosul, Iraq, October 14, 2023. (Reuters)

The population of Gaza is starving to death due to constraints imposed on humanitarian aid, the World Health Organization's emergencies director Michael Ryan said on Wednesday.

The WHO said the risk of famine in the Palestinian territory was already high and on the rise, with the space for humanitarian intervention being increasingly squeezed.

"This is a population that is starving to death, this is a population that is being pushed to the brink," Ryan told a press conference.

"The civilians of Gaza are not parties to this conflict and they should be protected, as should be their health facilities.

"The Palestinian people in Gaza are right in the middle of a massive catastrophe," AFP quoted Ryan saying, adding that things could get worse.

Ryan said access to proper nutrition had become a major issue in the Gaza Strip, with the calorie count and the quality of nutrition consumed by Gazans having dropped sharply.

Populations are not supposed to survive indefinitely on food aid, he said.

"It's supposed to be emergency food aid to tide people over.

"And if you mix a lack of nutrition with overcrowding and exposure to cold through lack of shelter... you can create conditions for massive epidemics," particularly in children.

"And we're seeing them," Ryan said.

The space for humanitarian intervention was being constrained in "every aspect", he added.

He pointed to the dramatic reduction in the number of operational health facilities and to how efforts to bring aid into the Gaza Strip were constantly disrupted and impeded.

The war was triggered by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. Following the deadliest attack in Israel's history, its military launched an air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 26,900 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the territory's health ministry.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency was facing continued "extreme challenges" in propping up Gaza's health system.

"Over 100,000 Gazans are either dead, injured, or missing and presumed dead," he said.

"The risk of famine is high and increasing each day with persistent hostilities and restricted humanitarian access."

Tedros said the Nasser medical complex, the chief hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, was now operating with one ambulance, with patients being brought in on donkey carts.

The WHO attempted to deliver food to the hospital on Tuesday but that aid was stripped from the trucks "by crowds who are also desperate for food", said Tedros.



Suspected US Airstrikes in Yemen Kill at Least 4 People Near Hodeidah

A man holds a rifle as protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
A man holds a rifle as protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
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Suspected US Airstrikes in Yemen Kill at Least 4 People Near Hodeidah

A man holds a rifle as protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
A man holds a rifle as protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to mark the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Sanaa, Yemen March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Suspected US airstrikes battered Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into Wednesday, with the militias saying that one strike killed at least four people near the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

The intense campaign of airstrikes in Yemen under US President Donald Trump, targeting the militias over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, has killed at least 65 people, according to casualty figures released by the Houthis.

The campaign appears to show no signs of stopping as the Trump administration again linked their airstrikes on the Iranian-backed Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. While so far giving no specifics about the campaign and its targets, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt put the overall number of strikes on Tuesday at more than 200.

“Iran is incredibly weakened as a result of these attacks, and we have seen they have taken out Houthi leaders,” Leavitt said. “They’ve taken out critical members who were launching strikes on naval ships and on commercial vessels and this operation will not stop until the freedom of navigation in this region is restored.”

Overnight, a likely US airstrike targeted what the Houthis described as a “water project” in Hodeidah governorate's Mansuriyah District, killing four people and wounding others. Other strikes into Wednesday targeted Hajjah, Saada and Sanaa governorates, the militias said.