Thursday briefing: UN warns of famine in Gaza
Gaza is on the brink of famine, the UN has warned
At least a quarter of Gaza’s population is “one step away from famine,” a UN humanitarian official told the Security Council yesterday. Aid agencies say people are so hungry they are resorting to eating leaves, donkey food and food scraps.
In northern Gaza, one in six children under the age of two suffer from acute malnutrition, official Ramesh Rajasingham said. The UN has not been able to provide any aid to the region since early this month, the UN said, due to security risks and Israeli restrictions.
The fighting, damage from the war and Israeli restrictions on essential goods entering Gaza have decimated the territory’s ability to feed itself through agriculture, ranching and fishing, Rajasingham said.
Facts: A new World Bank report showing that the enclave’s economic output shrank by more than 80 percent in the last quarter of 2023 calls it “one of the largest economic shocks in recent history.” Up to 96 percent of Gaza’s agricultural infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, and about 80 percent of the population has lost their jobs. In the short term, “every Gaza resident will live in poverty,” the report said.
Ceasefire talks: Hamas’s political leader said the group was flexible but prepared to continue the war. Egypt’s president said a ceasefire could be reached “in the coming days.”
The “uncommitted” sent Biden a message
President Biden and Donald Trump both won their primaries in Michigan on Tuesday.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway of the day was that a movement urging Democrats to vote “uncommitted” instead of for Biden managed to get his attention. The effort, aimed at pressuring Biden to call for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, helped draw 13 percent of the vote. Although that figure paled next to Biden’s 81 percent, it surprised his campaign. Until this week, the president’s team had not anticipated the strength of apparent anti-Biden sentiment among Michigan Democrats, especially after he swept the first two primaries in South Carolina and Nevada.
The movement is now likely to spread to other states, many of which have the option for voters to choose “uncommitted” or “no preference” in their primaries.
The lonely spiral of a K-pop star
Goo Hara was one of South Korea’s most popular music artists and rose to international fame with the K-pop girl group Kara. But with celebrity came vicious attacks on social media from a Korean public that is as quick to criticize stars as to fawn over them. Commenters focused on her appearance, personality and sex life.
Goo died by suicide in November 2019 at the age of 28. My colleagues Motoko Rich and John Yoon examined Goo’s struggles in South Korea’s entertainment industry.
If you are having suicidal thoughts, go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of resources. In South Korea, you can call 109 for the Ministry of Health’s suicide prevention hotline, or visit the Korean-language site 129.go.kr/109. In Japan, contact TELL Lifeline at 03-5774-0992 or telljp.com/lifeline/or go to the Japanese-language site inochinodenwa.org.
It’s leap day, February 29 the extra day we add to the calendar every four years to account for the Earth’s imperfect rotation. The odds of being born on February 29 are 1 in 1,461, and my colleague Remy Tumin is among that small number. She’s here to tell you all about the calendar quirk.
The positive side of saying ‘no’
For writer Leslie Jamison, keeping a notebook of every time she said “no” to something helped her realize what mattered most.
When she turned down something—whether it was a speaking engagement, a magazine assignment, or an invitation from a friend—she wrote down the opportunity and then drew a line across the page. Below it she wrote what saying ‘no’ had made room for. Sometimes that was more time with her partner, or a chance to call her mother, or extra time to write.
As she collected more of these comments, she realized that missed opportunities often came back and that the people she didn’t dare disappoint were okay. “It was not only my right, but my responsibility, to draw my own boundaries, rather than expecting someone else to draw them for me,” she wrote.