Un hospital de Gaza informó este martes que 21 niños murieron de desnutrición o hambre en las últimas 72 horas en el enclave palestino, donde Israel está expandiendo sus operaciones contra Hamas entre una creciente condena internacional.

Los 2,4 millones de habitantes de Gaza se enfrentan a una grave escasez de alimentos y artículos de primera necesidad. Además, para ahondar aún más la crisis humanitaria, los centros de distribución de ayuda humanitaria son atacados regularmente.

Leé también: El Vaticano criticó al gobierno israelí y aseguró que el conflicto en Gaza “no tiene justificación”

“Veintiún niños han muerto debido a la desnutrición y el hambre en diferentes zonas de la Franja de Gaza (…) durante las últimas 72 horas”, declaró Mohamed Abu Salmiya, director del hospital Al Chifa.

Un importante funcionario de seguridad israelí, citado en forma anónima por The Israel Times, dijo que el ejército no había identificado hambruna en Gaza, aunque afirmó que se deben tomar medidas para “estabilizar la situación humanitaria”.

El funcionario reconoció que hubo una caída significativa en la cantidad de ayuda que llega a los palestinos en la Franja, pero culpó a los organismos de las Naciones Unidas por no recoger y distribuir los alimentos y suministros. The Jerusalen Post, en base a una fuente militar, dijo que grupos de ayuda internacional tienen 950 camiones estacionados en el lado de Gaza de la frontera que no entregaron a los palestinos.

Fuerte condena de la ONU

En tanto, el secretario general de la ONU, Antonio Guterres, condenó el “horror” en Gaza, donde se alcanzó “un nivel de muerte y destrucción sin precedentes en la historia reciente”.

Previamente, el Alto Comisionado de Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos, Volker Türk, acusó al ejército israelí de matar a 1054 personas que esperaban ayuda desde fines de mayo, 766 de ellas “cerca de las instalaciones de la Fundación Humanitaria de Gaza (GHF) y 288 cerca de los convoyes de ayuda de la ONU y otras organizaciones humanitarias”.

Este martes, la Defensa Civil gazatí, en manos de Hamas, anunció que ataques atribuidos a Israel mataron a 15 personas, 13 de ellas en el campamento de Al Shati, en el norte de Gaza, que alberga a miles de desplazados.

El organismo también informó de la muerte de dos personas en Deir el Balah, en el centro del territorio, donde Israel anunció la expansión de sus operaciones y llamó a la población a evacuar.

Leé también: Trump retiró a EE.UU. de la UNESCO luego de que aceptara a Palestina como Estado miembro

El ejército israelí declaró que sus soldados “identificaron disparos en su dirección, en la zona de Deir el-Balah y respondieron al fuego atacando el origen de los disparos.

Según la Oficina de las Naciones Unidas para la Coordinación de Asuntos Humanitarios (OCHA), entre 50.000 y 80.000 personas se encontraban en la zona en ese momento. Casi el 88% de Gaza está hoy bajo orden de evacuación israelí o incluida en una zona militarizada israelí.

Crece la presión internacional sobre Israel

El patriarca latino de Jerusalén, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, dijo que la situación humanitaria en la Franja de Gaza es “moralmente inaceptable”, tras visitar el enclave palestino.

“Vimos hombres esperar durante horas bajo el sol con la esperanza de hacerse con una simple comida”, agregó.

El lunes, 25 países pidieron poner fin a la guerra en el territorio palestino. “La guerra en Gaza debe cesar inmediatamente”, escribieron en un comunicado los ministros de Relaciones Exteriores de 25 naciones, entre ellas el Reino Unido, España, Italia, Portugal, Canadá y Francia.

Los ministros consideraron que “el sufrimiento de los civiles en Gaza ha alcanzado nuevos niveles” y denunciaron “el rechazo del gobierno israelí a proporcionar asistencia humanitaria esencial a la población civil”.

Los países firmantes son: Australia, Austria, Bélgica, Canadá, Dinamarca, Eslovenia, España, Estonia, Finlandia, Francia, Islandia, Irlanda, Italia, Japón, Letonia, Lituania, Luxemburgo, Países Bajos, Nueva Zelanda, Noruega, Polonia, Portugal, Suecia, Suiza y Reino Unido.

La declaración también fue firmada por la comisaria europea de Igualdad, Hadja Lahbib.

(Con información de EFE, AFP y AP)

Former President Joe Biden’s campaign dodged answering whether the president planned to take performance-enhancing drugs ahead of his debate against President Donald Trump just over a year ago, instead arguing that Trump and his campaign were spreading «desperate, obviously false lies» about the 46th president potentially taking drugs. 

About one year after Biden’s ill-fated debate, former first son Hunter Biden claimed in a wild and expansive interview published Monday his dad’s poor debate performance was due to taking Ambien, a sedative-hypnotic typically used to treat insomnia. 

«I know exactly what happened in that debate,» Hunter Biden said in the interview. «He flew around the world, basically, the mileage that he could have flown around the world, three times. He’s 81 years old. He’s tired as s—. They give him Ambien to be able to sleep.

«He gets up on the stage, and he looks like he’s a deer in the headlights,» Hunter added. «And it feeds into every f—ing story that anybody wants to tell.» 

BIDEN AIDES PUSHED FOR EARLY DEBATE TO SHOW OFF BIDEN’S ‘STRENGTH,’ EXPOSE TRUMP’S ‘WEAKNESS,’ BOOK SAYS

On June 26, 2024, the day before the debate, Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign inquiring if Biden had any plans to use performance-enhancing drugs for the debate, but staffers twice avoided a direct answer to the question. 

At the time, Trump was leading a rising chorus, which included lawmakers, demanding that Biden take a drug test before the showdown. Those advocating a screening suggested Biden may have been motivated by a desire to quell mounting concerns about his mental acuity. 

«Donald Trump is so scared of being held accountable for his toxic agenda of attacking reproductive freedom and cutting Social Security that he and his allies are resorting to desperate, obviously false lies,» a Biden campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital the evening ahead of that 2024 debate. 

When asked in a follow-up email for a «yes» or «no» response, the spokesperson said the original statement answered the question.

«The accusation from Trump on drugs is a desperate, obviously false lie,» the response said. 

Ambien is a sedative that slows brain activity to help a person fall asleep and would not act as a performance-enhancing supplement for a public debate. 

FLASHBACK: THE DEBATE NIGHT AGAINST TRUMP THAT THREW BIDEN’S REELECTION CAMPAIGN INTO A FREE FALL

President Joe Biden speaks during the consequential debate June 27, 2024, in Atlanta.  (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)

ONE YEAR LATER: HOW JOE BIDEN’S DISASTROUS DEBATE PERFORMANCE FORCED HIS MEDIA ALLIES TO TURN ON HIM

Joe Biden spent days preparing for the debate at Camp David in Maryland with videos of his public gaffes and missteps haunting the campaign in the days leading up to the debate. Trump, meanwhile, led the charge in demanding Biden take a drug test to prove he was not taking performance-enhancing supplements ahead of the highly anticipated event. 

«DRUG TEST FOR CROOKED JOE BIDEN??? I WOULD, ALSO, IMMEDIATELY AGREE TO ONE!!!» Trump posted to Truth Social in the lead-up to the debate. 

Fox News Digital also reached out to the White House and Trump campaign asking if Biden or Trump, respectively, planned to take performance-enhancing drugs ahead of the debate. The Biden White House did not respond at the time, while the Trump campaign responded. 

«Absolutely not,» then-campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital at the time. 

«President Trump has naturally elite stamina and doesn’t need performance-enhancing drugs, unlike Joe Biden, who many are saying will be drugged up for the debate like he was at the State of the Union,» Leavitt said at the time. «President Trump has repeatedly asked Joe Biden to participate in drug testing. What does Team Biden have to hide?» 

BOOK REVEALS BIDEN ADVISORS DECLINED TO HAVE PRESIDENT TAKE A COGNITIVE TEST IN FEBRUARY 2024: REPORT

Hunter Biden’s recent explosive interview on «Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan,» released on YouTube, fanned the flames of Biden’s presidency and exit from the 2024 federal election amid ongoing accusations that Biden’s mental acuity had cratered during his Oval Office tenure. 

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, and wife Melissa Cohen Biden leave the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building June 7, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Biden entered the re-election cycle already racked by claims and concerns that his mental acuity had slipped, and he was not mentally fit to continue serving as president, which was underscored by special counsel Robert Hur’s report in February 2024 that rejected criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials, saying he was «a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.» 

Biden also brushed off accusations he was using any performance-enhancing supplements, including mocking Trump’s challenge that he take a drug test in an X post just before the debate showing him drinking a can of water. 

«I don’t know what they’ve got in these performance enhancers, but I’m feeling pretty jacked up. Try it yourselves, folks. See you in a bit,» the X post said, accompanied by a photo of Biden drinking a can of water that said «Get real, Jack. It’s just water.»

The debate was an abject failure for Biden as he stumbled over his responses and appeared to lose his train of thought and slur words at times, opening the floodgates of criticism from longtime Democratic allies who called on Biden to drop out of the race and pass the torch to a younger generation to take on Trump. 

A handful of former President Barack Obama’s allies and former advisors publicly helped lead the charge in calling on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race earlier in the summer, including David Axelrod, who said Biden was «not winning this race;» George Clooney, who called on the president to quit in a bombshell op-ed; and Jon Favreau, who served as former director of speech writing for Obama. 

BIDEN CAMP DODGES ANSWERING IF PRESIDENT PLANS TO USE PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS BEFORE DEBATE

Hunter Biden unleashed on the Democrats who turned their backs on his dad as he attempted to recover from the debate performance in his expletive-riddled interview Monday. 

«F‑‑- you. What do you have to do with f‑‑‑ing anything? Why do I have to f‑‑‑ing listen to you? What right do you have to step on a man who’s given 52 years of his f‑‑‑ing life to the service of this country,» Hunter Biden said of Clooney.

President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

«They’re all going to insert their judgment over a man who has figured out, unlike anybody else, how to get elected to the United States Senate over seven times … and how to garner more votes than any president that has ever won, and they’re going to replace their judgment for his?» he added, assailing other Biden allies who encouraged Joe Biden to drop out of the race. 

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Fox News Digital reached out to the former president’s office regarding Hunter Biden’s remarks and the campaign’s previous statements when asked about whether Biden would use performance-enhancing drugs ahead of the 2024 debate, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee lashed out at almost 30 Western countries who on Monday called for Israel to end the war in Gaza, saying in a post on X that «when Hamas thinks you do good work, you are doing evil.»

«How embarrassing for a nation to side w/ a terror group like Hamas & blame a nation whose civilians were massacred for fighting to get hostages released,» wrote Huckabee after Hamas – whose Oct. 7, 2023, mass terror attack on Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza – said it welcomed «the contents of the joint statement issued by the United Kingdom Government along with 25 other countries, calling for an immediate end to the war on the Gaza Strip.»

The U.S. and EU-designated terror group also reiterated its claims that Israel was carrying out a «policy of starvation» on the coastal enclave amid unverified reports that people have died due to hunger-related reasons. Fox News Digital has not been able to independently verify such reports.

STUDY CLAIMS US NEWS OUTLETS SERVED AS ‘MEGAPHONES’ FOR HAMAS IN GAZA WAR

«The statement’s condemnation of the killing of over 800 Palestinian civilians at the gates of U.S.-Israeli-controlled aid checkpoints underscores the brutality of this mechanism,» Hamas wrote following a statement issued by the U.K. Foreign Office and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

«The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,» read Lammy’s statement, which was also signed by the foreign ministers of 28 countries.

«If Hamas embraces you – you are in the wrong place,» Israel’s Foreign Minister Gidon Saar responded on X. «Hamas’s praise for the statement by the group of countries is the best proof of the mistake they made – part of them out of good intentions and part of them out of an obsession against Israel.» 

France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot, from left, Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, pose in the offices of the honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in Geneva, June 20, 2025. (Fabrice Coffrini/Keystone via AP)

Since launching a new model for food aid distribution in the war-torn strip in early May, Israel and the U.S. have come under fire from the international community over near-daily reports of people dying while attempting to receive aid or not receiving any aid at all.

Israel has refuted claims that there is hunger in Gaza or that it is using starvation as a tactic of the now 22-month-old war. Rather, officials have said they are working to prevent Hamas from stealing aid being distributed by veteran, mostly U.N.-run, humanitarian agencies and sold for exorbitant prices in a bid to continue funding terror operations. 

US-BACKED GAZA AID GROUP LAUNCHES BOLD NEW SYSTEM TO DELIVER FOOD DIRECTLY TO FAMILIES

Ambassador Mike Huckabee speaks to Fox News Digital during an interview at the American embassy in Jerusalem, Israel. (Yoav Dudkevitch/ TPS-IL)

Israel, which is tasked with securing routes to four aid centers run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund, has also denied that its soldiers intentionally kill Palestinian civilians but is rather issuing warning shots as a measure of crowd control. The GHF has so far delivered some 85 million meals since it started its aid operation in May.

U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres «deplored the growing reports of both children and adults suffering from malnutrition and strongly condemned the ongoing violence, including the shooting, killing and injuring of people attempting to get food.»

«As someone who has spent over 40 years in Israel’s Security Establishment – both as IDF Chief of Staff & Minister of Defense, I can say this unequivocally: Not only has Israel never starved or targeted civilians, but it goes above and beyond to protect civilians in the most complex of war zones like Gaza,» Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz wrote on X.

«We must be clear – culpability for harm inflicted to civilians rests on terrorist Hamas and Hamas only,» he added. 

HAMAS LOSING IRON GRIP ON GAZA AS US-BACKED GROUP GETS AID TO PALESTINIANS IN NEED

Protesters rally against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Fox News)

On Tuesday, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, said in a statement that «twenty-one children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in various areas across the Gaza Strip.» 

«Every moment, new cases of malnutrition and starvation are arriving at Gaza’s hospitals,» he said.  

Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv who has been monitoring the situation in Gaza closely, told Fox News Digital that he was «not aware of a single official report that people died because of starvation or hunger.» 

«I’m not familiar with any such report, but I am familiar with many warnings that were published by international organizations about the catastrophe that exists in Gaza and how in two months or so, 40 or 50,000 people will die because of hunger, but nobody has died because of hunger, because there is no hunger,» he said, adding, «if there are some local problems of supply, it is because of Hamas – not because of the IDF.»

Michael, who is also a fellow at the Misgav Institute in Jerusalem, pointed out that Hamas «loots, robs and steals the humanitarian aid, partially for themselves, to feed themselves and the rest is sold in very high prices to the local population in order to make money.»

Palestinians carry bags and boxes containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

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Israel’s goal of weakening Hamas’s grip on the Strip – and on aid agencies – appeared to be working on Monday, with The Washington Post reporting that the terror group «is facing its worst financial and administrative crisis in its four-decade history» and is struggling to find the resource it needs to continue fighting Israel or rule Gaza. 

Quoting a former high-level Israeli intelligence officer, and current Israel Defense Forces officers, the report said that Hamas could no longer pay its fighters or rebuild its underground terror tunnels, where it is believed to be holding some 50 hostages, both alive and dead, who kidnapped during its Oct. 7 attack.