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On Instagram , the wellness women dont seem like a political movement. Their pictures scroll by like snapshots from heaven. Angels with luminous skin offer glimpses into their livesearth-toned vignettes of gleaming countertops and root vegetables. You can look like us, feel like us, their chorus goes, if you follow our rules and purchase our powders.

Here, an influencer named Kendra Needham, known to her 369,000 followers as the Holistic Mother, recommends a red-light-therapy gadget for pain and thyroid problems. There, Carly Shankman, who posts as CarlyLovesKale, evangelizes about the healing powers of hydrogen-rich water and a probiotic oral-care regimen. Courtney Swan, the host of a health-trends podcast called Realfoodology, links to a menstrual-cycle-tracking app and her own line of immunity boosters in minimalist-chic packaging.

Scrolling through these accounts, I try to reassure myself: I eat vegetables and exercise. My body is fine the way it is, sturdy and practical like a short-bed pickup truck. But I am susceptible to retail therapy, and, boy, are these ladies sellingproducts, yes, but also anxiety that perhaps you havent been doing wellness very well at all. Linger long enough on any of their pages, and you will start to feel afraid: of seed oils, childrens cereal, hormonal birth control. Above all, you will grow more suspicious of doctors and scientists.

Cultivating such feelings has been key to the merger between Donald Trumps MAGA supporters and the wellness world that has resulted in the formation of the Make America healthy again campaign. Although many Americans are skeptical of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a scion of Americas most famous political family, as the potential next head of the Health and Human Services Department, his supporters see him as the supreme commander in the battle against Big Food and Big Pharma. Kennedy is not merely a man who has stumbled into the spotlight; he is a leader with a legion behind him.

Trumps election win has been quickly written up as evidence of his campaigns success in reaching young men via podcasts and the right-wing mediasphere. What that narrative misses is how Instagram became a rallying point of crunchy moms for a contest in which the predicted wave of women for Kamala Harris never materialized. Influencers such as these wellness women brought hordes of voters to Trump.

People who have, until this point, mostly been outsiders beating against the barricades of the health-care establishment, have at last been let inside. Now MAHA leaders see a chance to usher in their version of a wellness revolution.

Read: RFK Jr. is in the wrong agency

The wellness movement has always been about individual autonomy and responsibilityan effort to take charge of ones own physical and mental health, through diet change, the use of specialized products, or the adoption of new habits. The appetite for such health-care individualization is tremendous: Earlier this year, McKinsey estimated the global market for what it calls consumer wellness products at $1.8 trillionmaking it roughly twice the size of the pharmaceutical industry. The sheer scale of the movement suggests a culture of people feeling very out of control in their own livesand fearful of people who they deem as being in control, Mariah Wellman, a communication professor at Michigan State University who studies the wellness movement, told me.

In September, I went to Capitol Hill to cover an early MAHA event, a roundtable on American health and nutrition involving health experts moderated by Ron Johnson, the Trump-aligned senator from Wisconsin. Kennedy attended, alongside a dozen other leaders in the wellness biz, most of whom did not have relevant degrees but did have a product or a program to promote. Realfoodologys Swan and Vani Hari, the Food Babe, were there; so was Alex Clark, a podcaster for the conservative-youth organization Turning Point USA. Also present were the close Kennedy advisers and sibling co-authors of a new book about how to hack your metabolism, Casey Means, a former ear, nose, and throat surgeon, and Calley Means, a former food and pharma lobbyist who now runs a wellness company.

The panelists had a combined Instagram following of more than 16 million people, including many in my high-school and college circle. I get it: People want to be healthy, and America has a serious health problem. We spend nearly twice as much on health care per person as any other wealthy nation, yet our rates of obesity and diabetes are higher than most other countries. People feel seen by the wellness world, and often scolded by conventional health-care providers advice: Exercise more; eat your greens; get your shots.

Different versions of the wellness movement have permeated both the left and the right, and social media has drastically expanded its reach on both sides. COVID-19 exploded that influence: Masking rules, school closures, and vaccine mandates led to plummeting trust in doctors and scientists as well as frenzied do your own research expeditions.

Republicans, in particular, have benefited from that surging distrust. This summer, in Texas, I attended Turning Points annual gathering of young conservative women, where party activists and commentators mingled with anti-vax homesteaders and sourdough-making tradwives. They sold supplements and detox guides, and chanted for Trump. It was a precursor to the MAHA movement, which solidified in August when Kennedy officially endorsed Trump. Although Kennedy had also apparently been willing to endorse Vice President Harris in exchange for a role in her administration, his ultimate alliance with Trump makes more sense. Both have branded themselves as disruptors of the status quo: Down with expertise, up with matching hats. And both Kennedy and Trump are promising cure-alls for the countrys most grievous ailments.

The typical MAHA Instagrammer, according to Wellman, is a middle-to-upper-class mom between 20 and 40 years old, with a similarly situated audience of followers. For most of these influencers, their scope of expertise knows no limit. Kendra Needham, who calls herself a holistic health practitioner, posts information about mammograms, pink eye, autism, and natural remedies for curing your childs toe-walking. On her landing page, she also recommends a $47 tick-removal kit.

Like Needham, most MAHA influencers are skeptical of vaccines and critical of Americas pediatric-vaccine schedule. They allege that medical professionals oppose their ideas because they have been bought by Big Pharma, and that nutritionists are in bed with Big Food. They argue that, as Wellman summarizes it, all of the money in U.S. politics has led to the takeover of our public-health system, and that has led to increasing numbers of cancer and diabetes and heart disease and obesity. The wellness women are constantly reminding their followers that they understand the strain mothers are underthe overwhelming pressure to look good, feel good, and keep their families healthy. In their posts, they offer messages conveying solidarity. You got this, mama! they say. Its so hard to unlearn everything youve been taught.

How Kennedy would actually translate wellness into action at HHS remains to be seen. The Make America Healthy Again PAC, which isnt affiliated with Kennedy but is led by former Kennedy campaign advisers, is light on policy specifics and heavy on hopeful ambiguities about ending the chronic disease epidemic and removing toxins from the environment. That vagueness is likely an intentional effort to make Kennedy, a longtime anti-vax crusader, more palatable to skittish Republican lawmakers as they ponder his confirmation. But the MAHA influencers see no need to tread so lightly.

For months, theyve liberally peppered presidential politics into their messaging, and laid out their expectations of Kennedy and the other Trump appointees charged with fixing Americas health. Online, a groundswell has formed around a few key priorities: restricting food additives such as high-fructose corn syrup, artificial dyes, and sed oils; tap-water safety; and childhood vaccines. Their understanding is that were going to get rid of everything, from toxins to government corruption, Wellman said.

And they couldnt be more excited to get started. Clark, the Turning Point podcast host, described her vision of an America under Trump and Kennedy: Organic food in abundance. Breathe free without chemicals falling from the sky. Paychecks fat, people arent. Needham expressed incredulity at the idea that all parents arent filled with so much gratitude right now.

Kennedy himself seems eager to go wild at HHS, per his charge from Trump. Given recent statements, he may urge Americans to cook with beef tallow instead of canola oil and push for the removal of fluoride from tap water, ideas that some cardiologists and dentists say would increase rates of heart disease and tooth decay. Doctors are even more concerned about the consequences of Kennedys vaccine skepticism. If vaccination rates drop, expect a return of highly preventable childhood diseases such as measles. Kennedy has already been linked to a deadly measles outbreak in 2019 in Samoa, where local health officials said he contributed to a disinformation campaign about vaccines.

Kennedys other wellness-inspired prioritiessuch as his plan to ban TV advertising by pharmaceutical companiescould have an anti-corporate, pro-consumer appeal. The challenge, of course, is that the party with which Kennedy and his followers have aligned with is, quite famously, opposed to the kinds of regulation and funding these plans would require.

During Trumps first term, he demonstrated his unwavering commitment to deregulating both the food and agricultural sectors. A similar approach this time around could poison the Trump-Kennedy alliance and alienate the incoming presidents MAHA supporters. Or perhaps, eternally uninterested in policy detail, Trump will choose to indulge them.

For now, the MAHA influencers will continue operating as an Instagram booster club for the Trump-Kennedy agenda. And if Kennedy is ultimately confirmed at HHS, expect them to wield their following to support whichever policy he champions firstespecially if he faces resistance. Prepare for the bad guys to completely gaslight so many American people and convince them to defend their toxic products, Needham wrote on Instagram. We saw it happen with c0v!d and we will certainly see it again. We arent falling for it.

Read: America cant break its wellness habit

The prospect of a MAHA takeover at HHS is alarming to the people who have spent their lives studying public health. In recent months, many have launched their own countermovementdespite how Sisyphean that task looks right now.

The MAHA movement, its critics say, obscures the systemic problems with American health in favor of minor detailsand profits from doing so. They point to figures such as Hari, the Food Babe, who has long decried various artificial food ingredients and whose recent quest has been to force Kelloggs to remove certain additives from Froot Loops. The additives in question, four dyes and a preservative, have been linked to health problems in larger doses, though the FDA has deemed them safe in the smaller amounts of a typical portion. Haris project has spawned petitions and protests; meanwhile, she promotes her own, additive-free products to her 2 million followers on Instagram.

Americans are not unhealthy because of individual ingredients, Jessica Knurick, a dietician with 186,000 Instagram followers, told meand other professionals in the field tend to agree. Americans are unhealthy because they consume too many calories, dont move enough, and arent getting enough fiber. And because nutrient-dense foods arent affordable for families, and schools are reimbursed only about $4 for every lunch a student eats. Programs that help families access and afford healthy food are constantly being cuttypically by Republican politicians.

The social determinants of health are never talked about by this movement, Knurick said. Of course, social determinants dont sell supplements. This is not a movement to make America healthy, Knurick said. Theyre trying to erode trust in health expertsand their motive for doing so, she argues, is to make money, secure votes for Republicans, and distract from the new administrations coming bonfire of regulations.

Communicating all of this is a complicated jobone too complicated for Instagrambut that hasnt stopped Knurick from trying. She and other health experts on Instagramincluding the Food Science Babe, a chemical engineer and food scientist whose name is a rejoinder to her wellness nemesis, the Food Babe; Andrea Love, an immunologist and a microbiologist; and the nutritionist Adrian Chavezhave made hundreds of videos and posts in recent weeks responding to MAHA claims, point by point. Getting audience and attention is a tough task, because accurate science communication is nuanced. And frankly, nuance is kind of boring.

Right now, MAHA is on offenseand any criticism of the movement guarantees days of harassment, emailed death threats, and accusations of corruption. Even though were called paid shills all the time, were doing these videos in our free time, after we get home from work, Love, the immunologist, told me. Its the consequence of MAHAs ascendance that she and other critics fear most: a society not only distrustful of science and expertise, but actively hostile toward both.

Since Trumps win last month, the wellness influencers have been celebrating. Its our time, CarlyLovesKale wrote on Instagram. This is the shift our world needs. But they are frustrated, too, to be facing so much scrutiny. Resistance is wrong, they say, and questioning their motives makes you complicit. If you had told me that in 2024 we would have people actively against making America healthy again, I wouldnt have believed you, Swan, of Realfoodology, wrote. If you are against a healthier food system, she added, youre def not on the right side of things.

After all, the MAHA victors insist they are selling a healthier America. Who wouldnt want to buy that?

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Sports

Rays option Bradley to minors after rough start

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Rays option Bradley to minors after rough start

The Tampa Bay Rays optioned Taj Bradley to Triple-A Durham following a poor start for the inconsistent right-hander Wednesday night.

Handed a 4-0 lead against the Chicago White Sox, Bradley gave up four runs in the second and didn’t get through the inning as Chicago went on to an 11-9 victory in Tampa, Florida. He allowed four runs, four hits and three walks in the frame.

Bradley, once a top pitching prospect, didn’t factor into the decision and his record on the season remained 6-6, while his ERA moved to 4.61. The 24-year-old has struggled with consistency; he entered Wednesday’s start having allowed just one run in his previous two starts but had surrendered at least five runs in four of his six starts before that.

“Tough decision certainly, but felt like it’s best for him to get down there right now,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters after the game. “It’s probably a better environment (in Triple A) for him to work, rather than compete every single pitch.

“But know that Taj Bradley is massive to our success, and we need to get him back to the form we know he’s capable of.”

Cash said Bradley handled the news “like a pro” and will work to regain command of his secondary pitches such as his changeup and slider at Durham.

“I just talked to him and said there’s been a lot of good and there has been some not-so good,” Cash said. “Inconsistencies are tough to do at this level at any time of the season, but certainly with where we’re at right now.”

The Rays have scuffled over the last month and sit at 53-50, good for fourth place in the AL East.

Bradley has been mentioned as a potential trade target ahead of the July 31 deadline. The Rays have room to move at least one starting pitcher, and teams have identified the righty — who doesn’t reach free agency until after the 2029 season — as the likeliest of those with team control to go.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Politics

Welfare versus warfare: Sir Keir Starmer’s unresolved question – and why the PM’s pinned his hopes on economic growth

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Welfare versus warfare: Sir Keir Starmer's unresolved question  - and why the PM's pinned his hopes on economic growth

Welfare versus warfare: for decades, it’s a question to which successive prime ministers have responded with one answer.

After the end of the Cold War, leaders across the West banked the so-called “peace dividend” that came with the end of this conflict between Washington and Moscow.

Instead of funding their armies, they invested in the welfare state and public services instead.

But now the tussle over this question is something that the current prime minister is grappling with, and it is shaping up to be one of the biggest challenges for Sir Keir Starmer since he got the job last year.

As Clement Attlee became the Labour prime minister credited with creating the welfare state after the end of the Second World War, so it now falls on the shoulders of the current Labour leader to create the warfare state as Europe rearms.

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UK to buy nuclear-carrying jets

Be it Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, arguing last year that Europe had moved from the post-war era to the pre-war era; or European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen calling on the EU to urgently rearm Ukraine so it is a “steel porcupine” against Russian invaders; there is a consensus that the UK and Europe are on – to quote Sir Keir – a “war footing” and must spend more on defence.

To that end the prime minister has committed to increase UK defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, raiding the overseas development aid budget to do so, and has also committed, alongside other NATO allies, to spend 5% of GDP on defence by 2035.

More on Defence

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What is NATO’s 5% defence spending goal?

That is a huge leap in funding and a profound shift from what have been the priorities for government spending – the NHS, welfare and education – in recent decades.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Carl Emmerson said the increase, in today’s terms, would be like adding approximately £30bn to the 2027 target of spending around £75bn on core defence.

Sir Keir has been clear-eyed about the decision, arguing that the first duty of any prime minister is to keep his people safe.

But the pledge has raised the obvious questions about how those choices are funded, and whether other public services will face cuts at a time when the UK’s economic growth is sluggish and public finances are under pressure.

This, then, is one of his biggest challenges: can he make sure Britain looks after itself in a fragile world, while also sticking to his promises to deliver for the country?

It is on this that the prime minister has come unstuck over the summer, as he was forced to back down over proposed welfare cuts to the tune of £5bn at the end of this term, in the face of a huge backbench rebellion. Many of his MPs want warfare and welfare.

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Starmer and Merz sign deal on defence and migration

“There’s been a real collision in recent weeks between those two policy worlds,” explains Jim Murphy, who served both as a welfare minister under Tony Blair and shadow defence secretary under Ed Miliband.

“In welfare, how do you provide for the people who genuinely need support and who, without the state’s support, couldn’t survive? What’s the interplay between that and the unconditional strategic need to invest more in defence?

“For the government, they either get economic growth or they have a series of eye-watering choices in which there can be no compromise with the defence of the state and everything else faces very serious financial pressures.”

He added: “No Labour politician comes into politics to cut welfare, schools or other budgets. But on the basis that defence is non-negotiable, everything else, unfortunately, may face those cuts.”

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‘There are lines I will not cross’

While the PM sees this clearly, ask around the cabinet table and ministers will admit that the tough choices society will need to take if they genuinely want to respond to the growing threat from Russia, compounded by the unpredictability of Donald Trump, is yet to fully sink in.

There are generations of British citizens that have only ever lived in peace, that do not, like I do, remember the Cold War or The Troubles.

There are also millions of Britons struggling with the cost of living and and public satisfaction with key public services is at historic lows. That is why Labour campaigned in the election on the promise of change, to raise living standards and cut NHS waiting lists.

Ask the public, and 49% of people recognise defence spending needs to increase. But 53% don’t want it to come from other areas of public spending, while 55% are opposed to paying more tax to fund that defence increase.

There is also significant political resistance from the Labour Party.

Sir Keir’s attempts to make savings in the welfare budget have been roundly rejected by his MPs. Instead, his backbenchers are talking about more tax rises to fund public services, or even a broader rethink of Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules.

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Rachel Reeves’s fiscal dilemma

Anneliese Dodds, who quit as development minister over cuts to the overseas aid budget, wrote in her resignation letter that she had “expected [cabinet] would collectively discuss our fiscal rules and approach to taxation, as other nations are doing”, as part of a wider discussion about the changing threats.

In an interview for our Electoral Dysfunction podcast, which will be released later this summer, she expanded on this idea.

She said: “I think it’s really important to take a step back and think about what’s going to be necessary, looking 10, 20 years ahead. It looks like the world is not going to become safer, unfortunately, during that period. It’s really important that we increase defence spending.

“I think that does mean we’ve got to really carefully consider those issues about our fiscal rules and about taxation. That isn’t easy… nonetheless, I think we will have to face up to some really big issues.

“Now is the time when we need to look at what other countries are doing. We need to consider whether we have the right system in place.”

Minister for Women and Equalities Anneliese Dodds arrives for a Cabinet meeting in central London. Picture date: Friday February 7, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Cabinet. Photo credit should read: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire
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Anneliese Dodds quit the government over cuts to the overseas aid budget. Pic: PA

For the Labour MP, that means potentially reassessing the fiscal rules and how the fiscal watchdog assesses government spending to perhaps give the government more leeway. She also believes that the government should look again at tax rises.

She added: “We do, I believe, need to think about taxation.

“Now again, there’s no magic wand. There will be implications from any change that would be made. As I said before, we are quite highly taxing working people now, but I think there are ways in which we can look at taxation, not without implications.

“But in a world of difficult trade-offs, we’ve got to take the least worst trade-off for the long term. And that’s what I think is gonna be really important.”

Those trade-offs are going to be discussed more and more into the autumn, ahead of what is looking like an extremely difficult budget for the PM and Ms Reeves.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the launch of the 10-year health plan in east London. Pic: PA
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are facing difficult choices. Pic: PA

Not only is the chancellor now dealing with a £5bn shortfall in her accounts from the welfare reform reversal, but she is also dealing with higher-than-expected borrowing costs, fuelled by surging debt costs.

Plus, government borrowing was £3.5bn more than forecast last month, with June’s borrowing coming in at £20.7bn – the second-highest figure since records began in 1993.

Some economists are now predicting that the chancellor will have to raise taxes or cut spending by around £20bn in the budget to fill the growing black hole.

Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt
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Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt says Labour’s U-turn on cuts to welfare risk trapping Britain in a ‘doom loop’

Jeremy Hunt, former Conservative chancellor and now backbencher, tells me he was “massively disappointed” that Labour blinked on welfare reform.

He said: “First of all, it’s terrible for people who are currently trapped on welfare, but secondly, because the risk is that the consequence of that, is that we get trapped in a doom loop of very higher taxes and lower growth.”

‘This group of politicians have everything harder ‘

Mr Murphy says he has sympathy for the predicament of this Labour government and the task they face.

He explained: “We were fortunate [back in the early 2000s] in that the economy was still relatively okay, and we were able to reform welfare and do really difficult reforms. This is another world.

“This group of politicians have everything harder than we had. They’ve got an economy that has been contracting, public services post-COVID in trouble, a restless public, a digital media, an American president who is at best unreliable, a Russian president.

“Back then [in the 2000s] it was inconceivable that we would fight a war with Russia. On every measure, this group of politicians have everything harder than we ever had.”

Over the summer and into the autumn, the drumbeat of tax rises will only get louder, particularly amongst a parliamentary party seemingly unwilling to back spending cuts.

But that just delays a problem unresolved, which is how a government begins to spend billions more on defence whilst also trying to maintain a welfare state and rebuild public services.

This is why the government is pinning so much hope onto economic growth as it’s escape route out of its intractable problem. Because without real economic growth to help pay for public services, the government will have to make a choice – and warfare will win out.

What is still very unclear is how Sir Keir manages to take his party and the people with him.

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World

Gaza faces ‘man-made’ mass starvation due to Israeli aid blockade, World Health Organization says

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Gaza faces 'man-made' mass starvation due to Israeli aid blockade, World Health Organization says

The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said Gaza is suffering “man-made mass starvation” because of an Israeli blockade on aid to the enclave.

Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference that the population of Gaza is “facing yet another killer on top of bombs and bullets – starvation”.

The WHO said a “deadly surge” in malnutrition has caused the deaths of at least 21 children in 2025, but stressed this figure is likely to be the tip of the iceberg.

Centres for treating malnutrition are full of patients but do not have sufficient supplies for emergency feeding, it added.

In July alone, 5,100 children have so far been admitted to malnutrition programmes, said Dr Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for the occupied Palestinian territories. Some 800 of those children were severely emaciated, he said.

Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq faces life-threatening malnutrition.
Pic: Anadolu /Getty Images
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A child faces life-threatening malnutrition in Gaza. Pic: Anadolu/Getty Images

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City.
Pic: Reuters
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Crowds struggle for food at a charity kitchen in Gaza. Pic: Reuters

Mr Ghebreyesus said: “I don’t know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it’s man-made, and that’s very clear.”

“This is because of [the] blockade,” he continued, adding that 95% of households in Gaza are also facing severe water shortages.

He said the UN and its humanitarian partners were unable to deliver any food for nearly 80 days between March and May, while an aid blockade was in place, and that the resumption of deliveries has been insufficient.

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‘Gaza’s doctors treating influx of malnutrition’

There is no famine in Gaza, says Israel

An Israeli government spokesperson told Sky News the food shortages have “been engineered by Hamas”, before stating: “There is no famine in Gaza.”

Speaking on the News Hour with Mark Austin, David Mencer continued: “There is a famine of the truth and Israel will not stop telling it.”

He said aid is “flowing” into the enclave but Hamas “loots the trucks [and] deliberately endangers its own people”. The fighters deny stealing food.

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Sky News challenges Israel on Gaza starvation claims

Mr Mencer said Israel has allowed more than 4,400 aid trucks to enter Gaza since it lifted the blockade in May, adding that more than 700 are waiting to be picked up and distributed by the United Nations.

That is an average of around 70 trucks a day, which is the lowest rate of the war and far below the 500-600 trucks a day the UN says is needed.

“The problem is not Israel,” he said. “The problem is Hamas.”

Supplies in Gaza ‘totally depleted’

The comments came after more than 100 aid and rights groups warned of mass starvation in Gaza on Wednesday morning – saying supplies have become “totally depleted”.

Large amounts of food, clean water and medical supplies are sitting untouched just outside Gaza, but the groups blamed Israel for its “restrictions”, which they say is creating “chaos, starvation, and death”.

The situation has become so bad, aid agencies warned they were seeing even their own colleagues “waste away before their eyes”.

Israel, which controls all supplies entering Gaza, has denied it is responsible for shortages of food and other supplies.

Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City.
Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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Pic: Reuters

In a statement signed by 111 organisations, the groups said: “As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families.

“With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.

“The government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death.”

The groups called for governments to demand the lifting of all restrictions and for the restoration of a “principled, UN-led humanitarian response”.

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Gaza: ‘My colleagues are getting thin’

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which backed the statement and is one of the largest independent aid organisations in Gaza, said it has no more supplies to distribute and some of its staff are starving – and accused Israel of paralysing its work.

“Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left,” Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the council, told the Reuters news agency.

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Gaza is a ‘horror show’, says UN’s Secretary-General

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres said “starvation is knocking on every door” in the Palestinian territory, describing the situation as a “horror show”.

Officials in the Hamas-run strip said at least 101 people are known to have died of malnutrition during the conflict in Gaza, including 80 children, most of them in recent weeks.

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Israel wants to ‘finish off’ Gaza

Some food stocks in Gaza have run out since Israel cut off all supplies in March and then lifted the blockade in May with new measures it said were needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has accused the organisations of “echoing Hamas propaganda”.

Read more:
Gaza food situation ‘worst it’s ever been’, says charity
Hundreds of thousands ‘catastrophically food insecure’

The UK and several other countries have condemned the current aid delivery model, which is backed by the Israeli and American governments.

Gaza deteriorating by the day – but what will be done?

Analysis by Lisa Holland, in Jerusalem

The urgency of the call for action by aid and human rights groups screams out from the words in the letter.

It feels like the situation is deteriorating by the day – the letter comes hours after the United Nations secretary-general described aid distribution and food shortages in Gaza as a “horror show”.

There is certainly momentum in the demands for a ceasefire and for aid supplies backed up in neighbouring countries to be allowed into Gaza.

But will it have any impact?

Israel acknowledges there has been a significant drop in the amount of aid reaching Gaza.

But the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – now in charge of almost all aid distribution in Gaza – has fiercely hit back about its handling of the situation.

However, Israel has given no public sign that it plans to do anything to alleviate the plight of hungry Gazans any time soon – instead shifting blame to the door of the UN.

The UN used to run most aid distribution, but Israel stopped that in May claiming aid was falling into the hands of the militant group Hamas.

So if there’s – as yet – no sign of the aid chain being unblocked, what of the calls in the letter for a ceasefire?

People say watch for movement by Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.

He is currently in Europe and if he goes on to Doha, where indirect talks are taking place between Hamas and Israel, that could signal some sort of progress towards a ceasefire.

It has reportedly resulted in Israeli troops firing on Palestinian civilians in search of food on multiple occasions.

More than 800 people have reportedly been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near distribution centres.

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