UN chief: Reject 'hunger as a weapon of war'

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world must reject "hunger as a weapon of war".

The UN chief was speaking through video at a UN conference in Ethiopia, warning that conflict-driven hunger was spreading "from Gaza to Sudan and beyond", Al Jazeera reported on July 28.

"Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war," Guterres said.

The caution comes after multiple UN agencies warned of a hunger crisis exasperating in Gaza despite Israel easing the entry of aid into the besieged enclave on Sunday.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied the starvation taking place in Gaza at an event in Jerusalem on Sunday.

"What a bald-faced lie. There is no policy of starvations in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza," said Netanyahu.

At least 43 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza early Monday, Al Jazeera reported. Among those included nine people seeking aid. Further, 14 more Palestinians have died of malnutrition in the last 24 hours, including another infant, as the hunger crisis deepened in the enclave.

Tom Fletcher, under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said in a statement on July 27 that one in three people in Gaza has not eaten for days.

He welcomed Israel's decision to support a one-week scale-up of aid, including lifting customs barriers on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt and the reported designation of secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys.

Though he acknowledged progress on aid entry on Sunday – with initial reports indicating that over 100 truckloads were collected – he said "vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis".

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said in a post on its X account that 1 in every 5 children is malnourished in Gaza City. It said more children have reportedly died of hunger, bringing the death toll of starving people to over 100.

"Our teams are ready: UNRWA has over 10,000 staff in Gaza. When aid gets in, they will give it directly and with dignity and safety to the communities we serve. We have the reach, network, know-how and trust of those communities," said UNRWA.

"Meanwhile, we call once again, for a long-term ceasefire as part of an agreement that would bring respite to starving people, an uninterrupted flow of basic supplies as well as the release of all hostages," it added.

The World Food Programme said in a statement it has enough food in - or on its way to - the region to "feed the entire population of 2.1 million people for almost three months".

"WFP teams delivered 350 truckloads of food aid into Gaza last week under extremely challenging circumstances that put civilians and aid workers at tremendous risk. This represents just over half the number of convoys WFP requested permission to send in," the WFP statement said.

"Since the May 21 reopening of border crossings, WFP has delivered 22,000 tons of food aid into Gaza. More than 62,000 tons of food assistance is needed monthly to cover the entire 2.1 million population," it added.

Meanwhile, Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the agency responsible for coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza, said in a post on X that over 120 trucks were collected and distributed yesterday by the UN and international organizations.

"An additional 180 trucks entered Gaza and are now awaiting collection and distribution, along with hundreds of others still queued for UN pickup. More consistent collection and distribution by UN agencies and international organizations = more aid reaching those who need it most in Gaza," said COGAT.

Ahead of the High-Level Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in New York – to be co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France –  on July 28, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged in a video statement for the Governments "to use the opportunity of this conference for concrete action" to pressure the Israeli government "to end the carnage in Gaza".

"Countries that fail to use their leverage may be complicit in international crimes," said Turk.

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, by allowing some aid, not even enough to stop starvation, wants to reject global criticism and weaken other countries' political position of supporting two-state solution," Rasha Al Joundy, a senior researcher at the Dubai Public Policy Research Centre, told China Daily.

"But the images are way more strong than this meaningless step," she added.