2 million Gazans surviving on one meal every 2-3 days – War on Gaza Day 578

[The author of this op-ed, Sean Carroll, is the president and chief executive of the nonprofit group American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA).] 

A full-blown humanitarian emergency in Gaza is no longer looming. It is here, and it is catastrophic.

It’s been more than two months since Israel cut off all humanitarian aid and commercial supplies into Gaza. The World Food Program delivered its last stores of food on April 25. Two million Palestinians in Gaza, nearly half of them children, are now surviving on a single meal every two or three days.

At makeshift clinics run by my relief organization, American Near East Refugee Aid, signs of prolonged starvation are becoming more frequent and alarming. In the past 10 days, our lab technicians began detecting ketones, an indicator of starvation, in one-third of urine samples tested, the first time we have seen such cases in significant numbers since we began testing in October 2024. Food, fuel and medicine are exhausted or close to it.

Every hour is a race against time — but without the access and political will needed to deliver aid, save lives and end the unimaginable suffering, our hands are tied.

This is the longest continuous total siege Gaza has endured in the war. Israel is now openly exploiting aid as a tool of war; senior Israeli officials have declared what effectively is the intent to use starvation as a tactic to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages — a clear violation of international law. Many Palestinians fear it is also part of a plan to expel them from Gaza, and aid groups warn that Palestinians could end up in “de facto internment conditions” (continue reading here).

The World Food Program says it has “more than 116,000 metric tons of food assistance” – which could feed approximately half of the Strip’s residents, one million people, for some four months – waiting to enter Gaza as soon as border crossings reopen.

RELATED: ‘Bomb the food stores in Gaza,’ Israeli minister calls for starvation of Palestinians

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Humanitarian groups reject Israeli proposal for controlling aid in Gaza

Israel has not detailed any of its humanitarian aid proposals publicly or put them down in writing. But aid groups have been documenting their conversations with Israeli officials, and The Associated Press obtained more than 40 pages of notes summarizing Israel’s proposals and aid groups’ concerns about them.

Aid groups say Israel shouldn’t have any direct role in distributing aid once it arrives in Gaza, and most are saying they will refuse to be part of any such system.

“Israel has the responsibility to facilitate our work, not weaponize it,” said Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the U.N. agency that oversees the coordination of aid Gaza.

“The humanitarian community is ready to deliver, and either our work is enabled … or Israel will have the responsibility to find another way to meet the needs of 2.1 million people and bear the moral and legal consequences if they fail to do so,” he said.

Israel says it must take control of aid distribution, arguing without providing evidence that Hamas and other militants siphon off supplies. Aid workers deny there is a significant diversion of aid to militants, saying the U.N. strictly monitors distribution.

One of Israel’s core proposals is a more centralized system — made up of five food distribution hubs — that would give it greater oversight, aid groups say.

Given Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people, global standards for humanitarian aid would typically suggest setting up about 100 distribution sites — or 20 times as many as Israel is currently proposing — aid groups said.

One of the aid groups’ greatest fears is that requiring Palestinians to retrieve aid from a small number of sites — instead of making it available closer to where they live — would force families to move to get assistance. International humanitarian law forbids the forcible transfer of people.

Aid officials also worry that Palestinians could end up permanently displaced, living in “de facto internment conditions,” according to a document signed by 20 aid groups operating in Gaza (continue reading here).

NOTE: Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill recently spoke to Ryan Grim on Breaking Points about his interview with Hamas official Osama Hamdan. Regarding humanitarian aid, Scahill reported details that other news outlets had not:

My sources told me [Israel] tried to get the United Nations to agree to take charge of distributing aid…Israel had a long list of conditions about how many calories could be in each packet, about who could receive the aid, about the kind of security checks that Palestinians would be subjected to if they wanted to receive aid, about the kind of checkpoints they would have to pass through and the distances they would have to travel.

The United Nations told Israel we’re not going to participate in that because it’s weaponizing the use of food for crimes of war. So then the Israelis go to international aid organizations. Now I’m told that some aid organizations initially were considering going along with Israel’s plan in part because they felt that the situation was so dire that it was a compromise to make. Other aid organizations then looked at what Israel’s terms were and said absolutely not. These are de facto internment conditions – that’s a direct quote from a letter signed by 20 aid organizations.

So these international aid organizations said we won’t participate in weaponizing food for Israel’s war aims.

RELATED: Palestinians take deadly roads in search of food in Gaza Strip

US and Houthis reach truce – how it came together

In talks brokered by Oman, the Trump administration and Houthi leadership in Yemen announced the terms of a truce that will see an immediate pause to the American bombing campaign, met with a reciprocal agreement from the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, not to attack American ships.

“I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, effective immediately,” Trump said in the Oval Office. He said the Houthis “will not be blowing up ships.”

In an interview published in April with Drop Site News, senior Ansar Allah official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti first sketched out the outlines of the deal that was sealed today. “If the U.S. stops targeting Yemen, we will cease our military operations against it. We do not consider ourselves at war with the American people,” he said.

After the announcement, Israeli officials said they were blindsided by it, a slight that is being received in Israel as a major blow to the reputation of Ron Dermer, a top lieutenant to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and tasked with coordinating with his American counterparts.

Trump’s bombing campaign of Yemen has sat uncomfortably with his pledge on the campaign trail to disengage the US from foreign wars.

Several key figures in his Republican Party criticised the escalation, saying it did not fit into the America First foreign-policy ideology Trump has long espoused.

A cadre of Democrats and at least one Republican – Senator Rand Paul – have also questioned whether the six-week bombing campaign extends beyond Trump’s presidential power.

Trump’s announcement comes after the U.S. has carried out strikes on over 1,000 targets in their war on the Houthis and Yemen. These strikes, carried out over the course of less than two months, have killed over 250 people, including children.

The Houthis have been targeting shipping routes in the Red Sea, stating that their actions are acts of solidarity with Palestinians as Israel continues its assault on Gaza and the West Bank.

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Second US Navy jet is lost at sea from Truman aircraft carrier

Another F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier has been lost in the Red Sea, the second jet lost from the carrier in just over a week, five people familiar with the matter told CNN.

It is not entirely clear what happened yet, as the investigation is ongoing, but two of the people said there was some kind of arrestment failure as the jet was trying to land on the carrier and the pilot and weapons systems officer had to eject. They were recovered by a rescue helicopter and are both alive, but they suffered minor injuries, one of the people said.

The jet crashed into the sea and has not been recovered, two of the people familiar with the incident said.

The loss of the fighter jet comes one week after another F/A-18 jet fell overboard the Truman. That time, initial reports indicated that the Truman made a hard turn to evade Houthi fire, which contributed to the fighter jet falling overboard.

An individual F/A-18 fighter jet costs more than $60 million, according to the Navy (continue reading here).

NEWS ON PROTESTS, ARRESTS, DEPORTATIONS, CRACK-DOWNS:

Al Jazeera: Meet the Jewish students speaking to US lawmakers about Columbia’s protests

The Intercept: Police Shot Them in the Head With Rubber Bullets. Now UCLA Gaza Protesters Are Suing.

MORE NEWS:

Mondoweiss: I was in the BBC documentary ‘The Settlers.’ This is the part of my story they didn’t tell.

IMEMC Daily Reports

Mainstream western media: any sense of journalism ethics left in your veins? https://t.co/NxFuGg1HvK

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) May 5, 2025

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – MAY 6, 2025:

• At least 53,620 Palestinians killed, 127,290 injured – including:
• at least 52,653 killed in Gaza (~15,600 children) 
• at least 967 killed in the West Bank (~196 children)
• at least 118,897 injured in Gaza
• at least 8,393 injured in the West Bank

According to Palestinian authorities, during the ceasefire Jan. 19- March 18 2025, Israeli attacks killed at least 170 Gazans, and Israel committed at least 962 ceasefire violations.

Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 14,000 more are still buried under rubble.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – May 6, 2025: ~1,598 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children),413 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, 46 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

• Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
• Israel Targets Gaza’s Last Lifeline for Food and Escalates Civilian Killings amid Widespread Famine
• Israel Must Let International Journalists Into Gaza: Our Call as Foreign Press Association Members
• Israel is starving Gaza to death, and still the world does nothing
• The Trump Administration Is Hiding American Casualties of War
• Inside Waltz’s Ouster: Before Signalgate, Talks With Israel Angered Trump
• “Deprivation by Design”: Israel Intensifies Mass Killing Campaign in Gaza With Starvation and Daily Strikes
• The Vach brothers: creators of October 7 lies, and Israel’s first family of genocide
• Israel’s False Paramedics Story Exemplifies Its Information War Against Palestinians
• Mohsen Mahdawi: I Was Detained for My Beliefs. Who Will Be Next?
• In roadside Gaza attack, Israel kills 4-year-old girl and other children
• On the Day He Was Fired as National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz Used an Israeli App to Archive Signal Messages
• Israel closure orders deny education to 800 Palestinians in Occupied East Jerusalem: UN
• I was forced to burn my beloved books to survive in Gaza
• Israel carrying out ‘live-streamed genocide’ in Gaza, Amnesty says
• Regarding New JFK Disclosures, State Department Refuses to Acknowledge Israel’s Nukes
• They staged protests for Palestine. The consequences have been life-changing
• Biden Officials Admit They Never Pressured Israel for Ceasefire
• Commentary: Are You Tired of Hearing About Antisemitism?
• Israeli Opposition Leader Accuses Netanyahu of Plotting Assassinations