WHO warns of lasting impact of hunger

Malnutrition rates are rising in Gaza and hunger could have lasting impacts on "an entire generation", the World Health Organisation's representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory said yesterday.

Rik Peeperkorn said he had seen children in clinics who looked years younger than their age, reports Reuters.

"Without enough nutritious food, clean water and access to health care, an entire generation will be permanently affected," Peeperkorn told a press briefing by video link from Deir al-Balah, warning of poor health, stunting and impaired cognitive development.

Medical charity Medecins du Monde warned yesterday, accusing Israel of using hunger as "a weapon of war".

Israel halted all aid from entering the war-ravaged Palestinian territory on March 2, days before resuming its offensive triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, reports AFP. The United Nations and aid agencies have repeatedly warned of a growing humanitarian catastrophe for the roughly 2.4 million people in Gaza, amid dwindling supplies of everything from fuel and medicine to food and clean water.

US President Donald Trump on Monday left for Saudi Arabia on what he called a "historic" tour of the Middle East that will mix urgent diplomacy on Gaza and Iran with huge business deals.

Meanwhile, Israel's military said it struck a Gaza hospital housing Hamas members, in a raid yesterday that, according to Hamas, killed a journalist being treated after an Israeli attack last month.

The strike, which Hamas said happened at dawn, ended a brief pause in fighting to allow the release of a US-Israeli hostage.

The military said in a Telegram post that "significant Hamas terrorists" had been "operating from within a command and control centre" at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the strike killed two people and wounded several others, while the Hamas government media office said journalist Hassan Aslih was "assassinated".