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A barge filled with 200 tons of food arrives in Gaza from World Central Kitchen
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I'm A Cook: Feeding Hope In Gaza

As children in Gaza starve and rapacious capitalism, fractured governments and toothless international groups all fail to act, let it not be said that one person - albeit with extraordinary grit, heart, political will, clarity of vision - cannot make a difference. This week, chef José Andrés' World Central Kitchen, working with Jordan, UAE and Cyprus, made the first maritime delivery of food to Gaza. Please give this man his Nobel Peace Prize already. Also send him some money.

Since moving to the U.S. decades ago, the Spanish-born, award-winning Andrés, 54, has opened multiple restaurants in D.C and then across the country, including in New York, Chicago, Orlando and Las Vegas. In 2010, after volunteering at D.C.'s Central Kitchen helping repurpose food for those in need, he founded World Central Kitchen, whose chefs and first responders bring meals to people hit by natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies around the globe. Since his first mission to earthquake-ravaged Haiti, he and a worldwide "Chef Corps" of local cooks have made and distributed over 350 million meals - to Puerto Ricans devastated by Hurricane Maria, COVID-trapped cruise ship passengers in California, flooded-out Houston and, in 2022, in their first active war zone, to Ukraine, where, when a Russian missile hit the Kharkiv restaurant they were working in, injuring four WCK workers, team members insisted, "We wanna keep cooking. We wanna keep fighting.'"

"We all are Citizens of the World. What's good for you, must be good for all," reads WCK's website. "If you are lost, share a plate of food with a stranger...You will find who you are." Blunt, droll, reportedly merciless on the basketball court and seemingly tireless, Andrés views food as "the great connector" and his mission as both plain and existential: "Feeding humanity, feeding hope." "Without empathy, nothing works," he says. "A meal in a time of crisis is so much more than a plate of food - it's hope, it's dignity, it's a sign that someone cares." He argues that, in any dire situation, people must be treated with respect, "and the way you do that is being next to them in their darkest hour" - when, he adds, "you make magic happen...and you see the best of humanity." Deemed by many "a light in the darkness," Andrés often seems to be everywhere - he also has a podcast Longer Tables, a new cookbook, an upcoming show Dinner Party Diaries (Bryan Cranston!) - and now he's in Gaza.

With Israel's savage siege trapping over two million Gazans, the U.N. says over a million children, one in three, are now "acutely malnourished" - aka very hungry. Grotesquely, Israel has still attacked at least 26 starving crowds waiting for rare aid convoys; Thursday, they killed at least 20 people and wounded over 150. Since October, WCK teams have been in Gaza; often working with Jordan, they've served over 35 million meals, 350,000 a day; sent (or tried to send) 1,400 aid trucks across the Rafah crossing; and opened 60 kitchens, with ten more in the works. Meanwhile, for two months Andrés met with Israeli, Egyptian, Jordanian officials to get permits, mainly from Israel's COGAT, to approach Gaza from the sea in what he calls "the most politically complex environment WCK has operated in." Their goal: To establish a maritime highway so boats can continuously deliver food to a devastated people, especially children, pleading, "We want to eat, we want to live...God willing."

Palestinian child asks Egyptian soldiers for food in a letterwww.youtube.com

As widespread famine looms and the two sides skirmish and stall, the deadly stalemate brought Andrés back to WCK's origin story, of people in need facing "bureaucracy’s failures, inefficiencies, and prioritizing risk aversion over human lives." "This is a time for action, not for hollow promises," he says. "Our job is to feed people in crisis, no matter what." With food potentially "the difference between life and death" for millions, "the greatest failure now would be failing to try." Still, the task was daunting. Working with King Abdullah II of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates - which co-financed the mission with WCK - the government of Cyprus as a departure point, and the Spanish rescue charity Open Arms, they encountered a host of technical and political issues. For starters, Israel has so completely razed Gaza there are no working ports left; for weeks a team from WCK and Open Arms has been building a jetty with rubble from bombed buildings and whatever machinery they could salvage.

The location remains secret; citing other "security" concerns, Israel blocked the effort at almost every turn. For permission to build the jetty, Israel insisted international crews have no contact with Gazans. The result was a complex, months-long delivery system: In February, the Open Arms rescue ship set sail from Spain for the port of Larnaca on Cyprus, 280 miles from Gaza, in Operation Safeena - boat in Arabic. Last week, Cyprus crews loaded 200 tons of food - rice, flour, legumes, canned goods - on pallets onto a larger cargo barge, strapped to the Open Arms, that can only sail slowly in relatively calm waters; after three days at sea, it neared Gaza, where two tugs pushed it to the jetty; there, WCK crews unloaded the pallets, re-loaded them on trucks, and drove them to WCK kitchens and other distribution points. Weather already delayed the first shipment; Andrés also cited, "The sand, the tide, the wind, the machines, the permits, having enough cement for the jetty, having enough fuel for the cranes..."

On Friday, he jubilantly announced the first delivery from "Chefs For the People" had safely arrived: "We did it!" He noted the load included dates for Ramadan, and that 500 more tons of food await in Cyprus, along with ships to haul it and machinery to load it. Andrés stresses this is "a test, a pilot" designed to inaugurate a maritime corridor to deliver thousands of tons a week to Gaza, and inspire other multi-national humanitarian initiatives: "Let's have less diplomacy by meetings and more diplomacy by action - today, not in a month." But he's also adamant this is a stopgap measure in a crisis that shouldn't be happening. His 200 tons is equivalent to 10 or 12 truckloads; before the war, 500 trucks a day brought in aid that still wasn't enough to meet the needs of stricken Gazans. As long as Israel persists in occupying Gaza, land crossings should be open and human decency should prevail: "Everyone has the power to help or feed the many. We all have the power to move the needle."

Once word of World Central Kitchen's mission began to spread, news coverage followed. In one post, Andrés mockingly quoted a Washington Post headline that read, "Who Is José Andrés, the Chef Behind the First Aid Ship to Gaza?" He responded with, "Really? 30 years in DC and my favorite newspaper asks who I am? I'm a cook. Thanks." Still, the poignant, often heartbroken thanks that poured in from those who heard of, donated to, felt a deep need to acknowledge the project reflected the common grief and rage and gutting sense of helplessness so many have felt watching the horrors in Gaza unfold. "Heartfelt thanks to the warrior angels," wrote one. Also: "Thank you thank you thank you for respect to Palestine," "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish you all safety and Allah bless you more a thousand fold," "You are the change we need to see in the world," and, "May the Almighty reward you, may the Almighty grant Palestinians peace. Amen." Until then, donate here.

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Greta Thunberg
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Greta Thunberg, 40+ Other Climate Activists Block Entrance to Swedish Parliament

Greta Thunberg and over 40 other activists blocked the entrance to the Swedish parliament on Monday, demanding action on the climate crisis.

The activists held signs that said "Climate Justice Now," and Thunberg expressed her dissatisfaction with how the Swedish government is handling the global emergency.

"Sweden is unfortunately not unique in completely ignoring the climate crisis, not treating it as an emergency at all. But actively trying to greenwash, deceive, and lie in order to make it seem like they are doing enough and that they are moving in the right direction, when in fact the exact opposite is happening," Thunberg said.

Thunberg went on to say that Sweden is "very good at greenwashing," even though the country has "very high emissions per capita." She said the country cannot claim to be a climate leader.

“The climate justice movement has for decades tried to get our message across, and scientists and the most affected people have been sounding the alarm for even longer than that,” she said. “But the people in power have not been listening. They have been actively ignoring and silence those speaking out.”

Thunberg has faced the risk of going to jail over her climate protests repeatedly in recent years, and she has continued to sound the alarm that countries are not doing enough to fight the climate crisis.

The Swedish government has been facing intense criticism recently for enacting policies that will likely increase its carbon emissions. Thunberg vowed to continue her resistance to such policies.

"The climate crisis is only going to get worse and so it is all our responsibilities, all of those who have an opportunity to act must do so. We encourage everyone who can to join us and to join the climate justice movement," Thunberg said.

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Elon Musk
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Report Exposes US Corporations That Pay Their Execs More Than They Pay in Taxes

Top executives at dozens of major, profitable U.S. businesses received more in total compensation in recent years than their companies paid in federal taxes, underscoring the twin outrages of skyrocketing CEO pay and rampant corporate tax dodging.

A report published Wednesday by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) identifies 35 profitable U.S. corporations that paid their top executives more than they paid the federal government in taxes between 2018 and 2022. The list of companies includes Ford, Netflix, NextEra Energy, and Tesla—whose CEO, Elon Musk, is the richest man in the world.

ATF and IPS found 64 companies that paid their top five executives more than they paid in taxes in at least two of the five years examined.

Tesla, which has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies and loans, paid nothing in federal taxes during the period examined by the new report, as the electric car company carried forward losses from previous years to offset the $4.4 billion in U.S. profits it made between 2018 and 2022—the first five years of the Trump-GOP tax law that slashed rates for the rich and corporations.

Additionally, the report points to Tesla's apparent use of "accounting schemes" such as "shifting American profits to offshore tax havens."

Meanwhile, in 2018, Tesla's board gave Musk a staggering $2.28 billion pay package, which was at the time "the largest compensation plan in public corporate history." (In 2021, the ratio of Musk's compensation and that of the median Tesla employee was roughly 18,000 to 1.)

"In the intervening years, with the rise in the price of Tesla shares, the value of those options has grown to an eye-watering $56 billion. It became so outlandish as compensation for a single individual that a court in corporate-friendly Delaware struck it down," the new report notes. "Even if that decision survives appeal, whatever Tesla winds up paying Musk will still be more than it pays Uncle Sam."

The other profitable companies that paid their top executives more than they paid in taxes during the five-year study period were T-Mobile, American International Group, Duke Energy, DISH Network, Principal Financial, Metlife, American Electric Power, Kinder Morgan, Dominion Energy, Oneok, Williams, Xcel Energy, FirstEnergy, NRG Energy, Salesforce, DTE Energy, Ameren, Sempra Energy, United States Steel, Entergy, AmerisourceBergen, PPL, CMS Energy, Evergy, Voya Financial, Darden Restaurants, Atmos Energy, Alliant Energy, Match Group, UGI, and Agilent Technologies.

"America's working families are cheated twice when major corporations pay too little to the federal government in taxes while paying too much to their top executives."

The new report argues it is "no coincidence" that companies notorious for paying little to nothing in federal taxes despite massive profits also grant their executives huge pay packages.

"Executives are rewarded for 'tax efficiency'—the euphemism for corporate tax dodging—which is often an easier way to raise profits than by creating goods and services more customers want to buy," the report notes. "And compliant corporate boards have more money to throw around the executive suite when their firms pay less in taxes."

CEOs are often able to make use of so-called "top hat" plans that allow them to set aside unlimited sums, tax-free, for retirement.

David Kass, ATF's executive director, said that "both kinds of corporate misbehavior—underpaying taxes and overpaying executives—ultimately make working families the victim through smaller paychecks and diminished public services."

Thanks to cuts to the corporate tax rate and persistent loopholes, the effective U.S. corporate tax rate has declined sharply in recent decades, falling from around 50% in the 1950s to 17% in 2022—depriving the government of revenue that could be used for key domestic priorities, from healthcare to housing to environmental protection.

"America's working families are cheated twice when major corporations pay too little to the federal government in taxes while paying too much to their top executives in lavish compensation packages," the study argues.

The report estimates that hiking the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% would bring in $1.3 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade.

ATF and IPS also point to the "wealth of proposals" in Congress aimed at reining in out-of-control CEO pay. Earlier this year, progressive lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced legislation that would hike taxes on corporations that pay their top executives over 50 times more than their median workers.

The bill's supporters estimate that it could raise up to $150 billion over 10 years.

"For corporations to reward a handful of top executives more than they are contributing to the cost of all the public services needed for our economy to thrive reflects the deep flaws in our public regulation of corporations," said ATF and IPS. "Rather than more tax breaks, Congress should focus on addressing these deficiencies by cracking down on the use of tax havens, eliminating wasteful corporate subsidies, and closing loopholes that further enrich wealthy corporate executives."

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Advocates protest Medicare Advantage
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Patients, Advocates Push Biden to 'Reclaim Medicare' From Privatized Medicare Advantage

Patients on Medicare Advantage spoke out against the privatized plans this week as part of a coordinated campaign to shed light on the program's care denials, treatment delays, and overbilling—and to pressure U.S. President Joe Biden to rein in the insurance giants raking in huge profits from such abuses.

"These corporations do nothing to increase positive outcomes in medical care. So don't fall for their bullshit," Jenn Coffey, a retired EMT from New Hampshire, said during a livestream hosted by People's Action on Wednesday night.

The stream featured testimony from several patients who have experienced the kinds of delays and denials for which Medicare Advantage is notorious.

Rick Timmins of Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action said it took five months and "multiple calls and emails" for his insurance company to approve his referral to a dermatologist for a suspicious lump on his earlobe that turned out to be malignant melanoma. The delay stemmed from a byzantine process known as prior authorization, whereby doctors are required to prove a treatment is necessary before an insurer will cover it.

By the time his referral to a specialist was approved, Timmins said, the previously tiny lump "had tripled in size" and was "quite painful."

Coffey, for her part, ended up on a UnitedHealth Medicare Advantage plan after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013. She later developed two rare diseases—including complex regional pain syndrome—and required expensive treatments that her Medicare Advantage plan refused to cover.

"If Medicare Advantage has it their way, they're going to deny me care and delay me care until I'm dead," Coffey, a healthcare advocate, said in a video published Thursday by the advocacy group Be A Hero as part of a social media day of action against the for-profit plans.

"They only make money when they don't have to spend it on you," said Coffey.

Once enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, patients often find it difficult to get out.

"They like to tell you: 'Medicare Advantage numbers are so high, can't you tell people love it?'" said Coffey, alluding to the fact that more than half of all eligible Medicare beneficiaries are now enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. "No, we don't. We're stuck. It's the Hotel California: You can check in, but you can't get the hell out."

Next month, the Biden administration is expected to finalize 2025 payment rates for Medicare Advantage, which is funded by the federal government. Medicare Advantage plans frequently overbill the government by making patients appear sicker than they are.

An analysis released last year by Physicians for a National Health Program estimated that Medicare Advantage plans are overcharging U.S. taxpayers by as much as $140 billion per year—an amount that could be used to completely eliminate Medicare Part B premiums or fully fund Medicare's prescription drug program.

Patients and advocacy groups are calling on Biden to "not fork over more money for insurance companies like UnitedHealthcare," as Coffey put it during Wednesday's livestream.

A petition sponsored by Social Security Works urges Biden to "reclaim Medicare" from Medicare Advantage providers, which "have delayed and denied care to millions of Americans in order to turn a massive profit."

"Medicare Advantage isn't really Medicare, and it isn't an advantage to the seniors and people with disabilities who rely on the program," reads the petition, which has over 22,800 signatures as of this writing. "In the 25 years that it has existed, it’s clear that Medicare Advantage is riddled with the same problems as the rest of private insurance: Opaque bureaucracy and extraordinary fees. Seniors who enroll in these for-profit plans are being price-gouged by massive corporations."

The Biden administration has proposed a 3.7% payment increase for Medicare Advantage in 2025—a change that insurers have portrayed as a cut. But Social Security Works noted in response to the industry's complaints that "MA companies are not hurting for profits."

"In 2022 alone, seven healthcare companies that comprise 70% of the MA market brought in over $1 trillion in total revenue and over $69 billion in profits, and spent $26.2 billion on stock buybacks," the group observed. "These same companies claim that if the government doesn't increase their already bloated payment rates, they will have no choice but to slash benefits for patients. This is false, and should be seen for what it is—MA plans holding patients hostage to extort the government for profits."

In an op-ed for STAT last month, former insurance industry insider Wendell Potter—who is now an outspoken critic of private insurers—and John A. Burns School of Medicine professor professor Philip Verhoef wrote that "private plans have no business administering Medicare benefits."

"Traditional Medicare is already more efficient than its private counterpart, in large part because the approval process is much simpler and there aren’t the same incentives to upcode," the pair wrote. "Traditional Medicare spends far less of its funds on administrative overhead, and overall it spends less money per patient than Medicare Advantage while providing far superior access to doctors, hospitals, and treatments."

"Medicare Advantage isn't working for any group: the government, patients, taxpayers, and now even investors," they added. "It's time to turn to what we already know works. We need to support and strengthen traditional Medicare."

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#KeepTikTok
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'Blatant Censorship': Critics Blast US House Vote for TikTok Ban

U.S. progressives on Wednesday decried what they called a xenophobic censorship bill passed by House lawmakers that would ban TikTok if its Chinese parent company doesn't sell its stake in the popular social media app, with critics arguing that Congress should instead pass a comprehensive digital privacy law.

Lawmakers passed the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 352-65 vote. The legislation "prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary-controlled application" like TikTok, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese tech company ByteDance.

Fifty House Democrats and 15 Republicans voted against the bill.

"I voted no on the TikTok forced sale bill," Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) said in a statement. "While I have serious data privacy concerns with TikTok, this bill was rapidly rushed to a vote by the Republicans with almost no public scrutiny—and that's a recipe for unintended consequences."

"We need well-vetted, robust protections for TikTok users," Casar added. "Today's bill simply may not work."

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who also voted no, said on social media that "not only are there First Amendment concerns, this is bad policy."

"We should create actual standards and regulations around privacy violations across social media companies—not target platforms we don't like," she added.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), another no vote, said that "rather than target one company in a rushed and secretive process, Congress should pass comprehensive data privacy protections and do a better job of informing the public of the threats these companies may pose to national security."

Proponents of the bill, which was rushed to a vote after a closed-door hearing, argue that because ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, TikTok could be compelled to disclose data on the approximately 170 million Americans who use the app.

If passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Joe Biden—who has vowed to approve the legislation—ByteDance will have six months to divest from TikTok or it will be banned from U.S. app stores and web hosts.

Responding to the vote, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin accused the U.S. government of "resorting to hegemonic moves when one could not succeed in fair competition."

Wang added that the move "disrupts the normal operation of businesses, undermines the confidence of international investors in the investment environment, sabotages the normal economic and trade order in the world, and will eventually backfire on the U.S. itself."

"The rhetoric fueling a TikTok ban is a xenophobic, moral panic about the content on TikTok."

Civil liberties and digital rights groups blasted the House vote, with the ACLU accusing lawmakers of "violating the free speech rights of millions of Americans who use the platform daily to communicate and stay informed."

Fight for the Future said that "the rhetoric fueling a TikTok ban is a xenophobic, moral panic about the content on TikTok, disregarding... users in the U.S. that use the app for news, small business, community organizing, and free expression."

"Don't ban TikTok," the group asserted on social media. "Pass a goddamn privacy law."

Other critics highlighted U.S. tech giants' rampant abuse of user privacy. RootsAction called the bill a "serious First Amendment violation and an infringement upon free speech" that "does very little to address broader concerns about privacy rights, as U.S. based social media companies extensively violate those rights."

Jenna Ruddock, an attorney at Free Press Action, said in a statement:

TikTok isn't perfect, but banning it is the wrong solution. Like all popular platforms, including those that Meta and Google own, TikTok collects too much data on its users. But unilaterally dismantling spaces for free expression limits people's access to information and cuts off avenues for creators to build community. The legislation also fails to meaningfully protect our privacy or address the national security concerns the bill's sponsors have raised.

"Banning a single platform will not address the problem at the root of the entire tech landscape," Ruddock contended, for "at any given time, dozens of corporations are tracking us, analyzing our behavior, and profiting off of our private information."

"It's ridiculous for Congress to single out one app while failing to act on this huge problem that's prevalent across all social media," she added. "Lawmakers should instead pass a federal privacy law that would limit how all companies collect, store, analyze, and sell our personal data."

Some critics linked the legislation to U.S. support for Israel's genocide in Gaza and TikTok users' prolific advocacy for Palestine, with RootsAction noting that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was the leading campaign contributor to bill author Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) during the 2021-22 election cycle.

The peace group CodePink quipped, "As Israel drops U.S. bombs on civilians daily, they'd rather ban an app than a genocide."

The legislation now heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) only said that the chamber "will review" the bill.

"Make no mistake: The House's TikTok bill is a ban, and it's blatant censorship," ACLU senior policy counsel Jenna Leventoff argued. "Today, the House of Representatives voted to violate the First Amendment rights of more than half of the country. The Senate must reject this unconstitutional and reckless bill."

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Children wait for food in Rafah.
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One-Third of Children Under 2 in Northern Gaza Now Acutely Malnourished

Around one-third of children under two in northern Gaza are now suffering from acute malnutrition, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund announced on Friday.

That's double the percentage of children under two who suffered from acute malnutrition in January, as the rate jumped from 15.6-31% in one month.

"The speed at which this catastrophic child malnutrition crisis in Gaza has unfolded is shocking, especially when desperately needed assistance has been at the ready just a few miles away," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

"The situation is beyond catastrophic."

The UNICEF data came from screenings it conducted with its partners in February. While the rates of malnutrition are higher in the north, no part of Gaza remains untouched. As a whole, the agency concluded that "malnutrition among children is spreading fast and reaching devastating and unprecedented levels in the Gaza Strip due to the wide-reaching impacts of the war and ongoing restrictions on aid delivery."

A full 28% of children in Khan Younis in central Gaza have acute malnutrition, while in Rafah, around 10% suffered from acute malnutrition by the end of February. That was also double the 5% who suffered from acute malnutrition in January in the southern city. In the north, as many as 25% of children under five also suffer from acute malnutrition, up from 13%. The new figures come as humanitarian groups and U.N. agencies have been warning about potential famine in the Gaza Strip for months.

UNICEF also found in February that 4.5% of children in shelters and health centers in northern Gaza suffer from severe wasting, the most serious and potentially fatal form of malnutrition, for which the necessary treatment is not on hand. In Khan Younis, more than 10% of the malnourished children have severe wasting. Even in Rafah, the number of children under two with severe wasting more than quadrupled from 1% to over 4% between January and the end of February.

In total, at least 23 children have died from starvation or dehydration in northern Gaza in the last few weeks alone, UNICEF said. Israel's bombardment and invasion of Gaza has been particularly devastating for children as a whole, killing around 13,450 out of a total death toll of more than 31,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

"We've been sounding the alarm that children will die due to malnutrition and disease since the beginning of the war," Save the Children UK said on social media on Saturday. "Our worst fears have now come true. These man-made conditions continue to deteriorate toward famine and will continue to take innocent children's lives."

Lucia Elmi, UNICEF's special representative in the Palestinian territories, toldThe New York Times that children were declining at such alarming rates because the available water, bread, and flour was not enough to provide the nutrition they need.

"They need protein, they need vitamins, they need fresh products, and they need micronutrients, and all of this has been completely missing," Elmi said last week. "That's why the deterioration has been so fast, so rapid, and at this scale."

Dominic Allen, the United Nations Population Fund representative for Palestine, told reporters on Friday that everyone he spoke to Gaza was "gaunt, emaciated, hungry."

"The situation is beyond catastrophic," he said.

Russell said that UNICEF had not been able to acquire the supplies it needed to properly treat malnourished children. Humanitarian groups have criticized Israel for making aid deliveries more difficult by searching every truck that enters the strip and rejecting whole shipments because they contained items like children's scissors or wooden instead of cardboard boxes for toys. In multiple instances, the Israeli military has fired on on aid convoys and on people gathering to receive aid, killing scores.

"We have repeatedly attempted to deliver additional aid and we have repeatedly called for the access challenges we have faced for months to be addressed. Instead, the situation for children is getting worse by each passing day. Our efforts in providing life-saving aid are being hampered by unnecessary restrictions, and those are costing children their lives," Russell said.

Ultimately, Russell continued, the only way to properly feed and treat Gaza's children is for Israel to stop its attack on the strip.

"An immediate humanitarian cease-fire continues to provide the only chance to save children's lives and end their suffering," Russell concluded. "We also need multiple land border crossings that allow aid to be reliably delivered at scale, including to northern Gaza, along with the security assurances and unimpeded passage needed to distribute that aid, without delays or access impediments."

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