Iran slams ‘hostile’ US sanctions ahead of new talks

LONDON: Almost 300 million people face death from starvation, with the most at risk in war-torn Gaza and Sudan, the latest Global Report on Food Crises has warned.

The report said 295.3 million people have been identified as facing “high levels of acute food insecurity” after a sixth consecutive year of the global number growing, with people in South Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan also noted as being at particular risk.

Cuts to humanitarian aid budgets and escalating conflicts were highlighted as having pushed as many as 13.7 million people into chronic food insecurity over the past 12 months.

The report noted that the number of people most at risk of food shortages as defined by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification had more than doubled in that period, and that 95 percent of those were in Gaza and Sudan.

It added that the populations of both face “starvation, death, destitution and high rates of acute malnutrition.”

More than half of Gaza’s approximately 2.1 million people face “catastrophe,” while Sudan has as many as 24 million people suffering food insecurity. Famine has been officially declared in the African country.

“Intensifying conflict, increasing geopolitical tensions, global economic uncertainty and profound funding cuts are deepening acute food insecurity,” the GRFC said.

“Following the closure of all crossings into the Gaza Strip in early March, and the collapse of the two-month ceasefire, food access has been severely restricted.”

The GRFC said 19 other countries are suffering from worsening food security “aggravated” by drought, highlighting Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Kenya.

War is also increasing several other countries’ food security, especially Nigeria and Myanmar.

LONDON: A British doctor in Gaza has released footage showing the devastation caused by an Israeli airstrike on the European Gaza Hospital near the southern city of Khan Younis on Thursday.

Dr. Tom Potokar, a consultant plastic surgeon, shared the video with the BBC, documenting the aftermath of an attack by Israel on the facility. Six bombs were dropped on the hospital, killing 28 people.

Potokar, who has traveled to Gaza 16 times to provide vital treatment to Palestinians trapped in the enclave, described the footage as a “snapshot” of his experience working at the hospital.

In the video, he described an “absolutely massive strike … right in front of the emergency room,” as people ran and lay on the ground outside the hospital.

“Shrapnel everywhere. Devastation right in the forecourt of the hospital. Absolutely terrible,” he said in the footage.

In further scenes described as “absolute mayhem,” Potokar walked through the corridors of the hospital as medics, patients and other civilians tried to respond to the attack. 

“It’s a direct hit on the hospital,” he said, as screams echoed in the background and smoke billowed through the building.

Standing outside an operating theater, Potokar then turned the camera on himself to survey the damage, and said the facility was “too dangerous” to take people to be operated on, and staff were leaving to find shelter. He later reported that the hospital had been entirely evacuated.

Potokar told the BBC: “We’ve been treating patients with huge open wounds, some even with maggots in, infected, multiple amputations, children down to the age of two with significant nerve injuries, traumatic brain injuries.”

At least 114 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Thursday, according to local authorities.