By Alexandra Sharp
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at “catastrophic” food shortages in Gaza, new civil liberty infringements in Hong Kong, and Japan increasing its interest rates.
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Gaza’s Dire Hunger Crisis
Displaced Palestinian children gather to receive food at a government school in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Feb. 19.Mohammed Abed/AFP
The risk of famine in Gaza is imminent, according to a new report published Monday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). Extreme food shortages have reached famine levels, and without establishing an immediate cease-fire and increasing humanitarian aid to the region, mass death may occur by the end of May. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry estimates that at least 23 children and four adults in Gaza have died from malnutrition or dehydration thus far.
“In my 25 years as a humanitarian this may be, pound for pound, the grimmest analysis I have ever seen,” Refugees International President Jeremy Konyndyk wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Around half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are projected to imminently experience “catastrophic” food shortages, with 70 percent of Palestinians in parts of northern Gaza suffering from the most severe level of shortages. That is more than triple the 20 percent threshold required to be considered famine. Around 300,000 Palestinians are sheltering in areas facing famine-scale death rates (defined as 2 people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition). The IPC report recorded zero people in Gaza with food security.
“About 50 percent of buildings – and more than 70 percent in the northern governorates – have been damaged or destroyed. This has included dwellings, shops and infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, as well as water, sanitation and other facilities. Assets and infrastructure necessary for food production and distribution have also been destroyed or severely damaged, extremely limiting the functionality of the food system,” the report notes. As a result, “virtually all households are skipping meals every day and adults are reducing their meals so that children can eat.”
Foreign leaders have condemned Israel’s continued assault on Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis. European Union foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war and “provoking famine.” Martin Griffiths, the United Nations’ top relief coordinator, wrote on X that the “international community should hang its head in shame for failing to stop” the famine. And U.S. President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday against going forward with a planned ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, arguing that it would worsen the hunger crisis and deepen anarchy across the Gaza Strip.
This was Biden’s first phone call with Netanyahu in a month and one of his strongest warnings yet against the controversial operation. Netanyahu agreed to send an Israeli delegation to Washington in the coming days to discuss Biden’s concerns, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to the Middle East this week to aid ongoing cease-fire talks and “discuss the right architecture for lasting regional peace.”
As aid agencies have intensified criticism of Israel’s military strategy in Gaza, Israel last week opened another humanitarian delivery route by land, and the United States, Jordan, and other countries and international observers have begun delivering aid via sea shipments and air drops into the besieged territory. Yet humanitarian officials maintain that the trickle of aid is insufficient and is not reaching Palestinians in northern Gaza, where the hunger crisis is most dire.
On Monday, Oxfam accused Israeli authorities of preventing “a warehouse full of international aid” from reaching the Gaza Strip. And last week, the U.N. reported that in the first two weeks of March, “12 humanitarian aid missions to northern Gaza were facilitated by the Israeli authorities, six were denied, and six were postponed.”
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Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Approving Article 23. Hong Kong on Tuesday passed a new national security law, known as Article 23, in a unanimous vote that rights activists argue will further erode civil liberties. Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing Legislative Council fast-tracked the vote in less than two weeks. According to Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, the new policy protects “core national interests,” allows Hong Kong to focus on economic development, and is necessary for the region’s stability. This is a “historic moment,” Hong Kong leader John Lee said.
Article 23 expands on the national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 following mass pro-democracy protests. It establishes a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for treason and insurrection; increases the maximum punishment for sedition from two to seven years; and broadens the definition of state secrets to include economic, technological, and scientific developments. Critics warn that Article 23 will encourage greater media self-censorship, increase risks for foreign investment, and infringe on Hong Kongers’ freedom of expression both domestically and abroad.
No longer negative. Japan’s central bank raised interest rates—from the previous rate of negative 0.1 percent to a range of 0 percent to 0.1 percent—on Tuesday for the first time in 17 years. With the hike, Japan became the last country in the world to abandon negative interest rates; Tokyo cut rates below zero in 2016 to boost the country’s sluggish economy. The bank also announced on Tuesday that it would stop purchasing Japanese government bonds as well as funds investing in real estate or track stocks, and that it would restrict how high long-term bond yields can rise.
Japan has the fourth-largest economy in the world by nominal GDP. After years of deflationary conditions, inflation is rising in Japan. Residents are receiving larger-than-usual wage increases, and economists predict more sustained growth to come. But Japan’s bank maintains that it will follow an “accommodative” policy going forward. “Even if we were to raise interest rates in the future, we would do so at a slow pace,” central bank chief Kazuo Ueda said.
More abductions in Nigeria. Armed gangs kidnapped at least 100 people in northwest Nigeria over the weekend, a state official told The Associated Press on Monday. Two villages in Kaduna state were targeted, the same region where nearly 300 students and staff members were taken from a school less than two weeks ago in one of Nigeria’s largest mass abductions in years. No group has claimed responsibility for this weekend’s assault nor the earlier Kaduna attack.
Public pressure is mounting for Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to pay ransoms for the schoolchildren’s return. Last week, Tinubu ordered security agencies to immediately rescue the captives but “ensure that not a dime is paid for ransom” in the process. Bandits are believed to be keeping the children in the nation’s vast forests. Tinubu has not yet commented on the most recent kidnappings.
Odds and Ends
A new mural by the renowned anonymous street artist Banksy appeared in London on Monday. Green spray paint along the side of a building appears to mimic the leaves of a real, largely bare tree located a few meters in front of the structure. In typical Banksy fashion, a stencil of a person holding a spraying device stands underneath. Banksy’s last project—three drones flying across a stop sign—was stolen shortly after first appearing. Stealing an entire wall may be a bit more difficult, though.
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