Starvation, humanitarian crisis in Gaza grows worse as Israel ramps up attack
Palestinian-Americans are speaking out about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry says at least 100 children have starved to death since the war in the Middle East began.
People were in tears trying to explain suffering in Gaza at a news conference pulled together by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Eyewitness News spoke to Palestinian Americans, including a man who has lost 307 people in his family, and a Brooklyn teacher who used to live there, who runs three mobile soup kitchens in Gaza.
Mahmoud Ashi can barely describe his loss. Ashi says the war has killed more than 300 people in his extended family.
Rita Lahoud is a school teacher in Brooklyn with strong family ties to Gaza, that's why she runs three grassroots soup kitchens in Gaza, and says the starvation and famine is undeniable.
People in America have been donating small amounts of cash, from $10 to $50, to feed the hungry at these soup kitchens.
"The lines are longer, people are more panicky, even becoming more thin, and you can see that in the videos," said Lahoud of GoProjectHope.org.
Lahoud's GoProjectHope feeds people the fastest and simplest way possible.
"So, basically Gaza is surviving right now on lentils," she said.
The level of desperation and exasperation is at the highest level.
There is no condemnation of Hamas, and no talk of returning the remaining 50 Israeli hostages, more than half of whom are believed dead. There's only a plea for the months-long blockade of Gaza to lift and let aid trucks filled with food, just down the road, inside.
"Please, we need to stop this for ceasefire not in an hour, not in a minute, not in a second... now," Ashi said.
Nothing points to peace. Israel has ramped up attacks to root out Hamas, and made a connection, without evidence, between one journalist killed and Hamas terrorism.
The violence continues as human rights groups in Israel continue to condemn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and people also cry for the return of Israeli hostages.
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