AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

More than a hundred humanitarian groups are demanding action to end Israel’s siege of Gaza, warning mass starvation is spreading across the Palestinian territory. The NGOs, including Amnesty, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, warn, quote, “Illnesses like acute watery diarrhea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration,” unquote. Their warning came as the Palestinian Ministry of Health said the number of starvation-related deaths has climbed to at least 111 people.

This is Ghada al-Fayoumi, a displaced Palestinian mother of seven in Gaza City.

GHADA AL-FAYOUMI: [translated] My children wake up sick every day. What do I do? I get saline solution for them. What can I do? There’s no food, no bread, no drinks, no rice, no sugar, no cooking oil, no bulgur, nothing. There is no kind of any food available to us at all.

AMY GOODMAN: Thousands of antiwar protesters marched Tuesday in Tel Aviv on Israel’s military headquarters, demanding an end to Israel’s assault and a lifting of the Gaza siege. This is Israeli peace activist Alon-Lee Green with the group Standing Together.

ALON-LEE GREEN: We are marching now in Tel Aviv, holding bags of flour and the pictures of these children that have been starved to death by our government and our army. We demand to stop the starvation in Gaza. We demand to stop the annihilation of Gaza. We demand to stop the daily killing of children and innocent people in Gaza. This cannot go on. We are Israelis, and this does not serve us. This only serves the Messianic people that lead us.

AMY GOODMAN: This comes as the World Health Organization has released video showing the Israeli military attacking WHO facilities in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. A WHO spokesperson condemned the attack, called for the immediate release of a staff member abducted by Israeli forces.

TARIK JAŠAREVIĆ: Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint. Two WHO staff and two family members were detained.

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, health officials in Gaza say Israeli attacks over the past day killed more than 70 people, including five more people seeking food at militarized aid sites. Amidst growing outrage worldwide, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Tuesday the situation in Gaza right now is a “horror show.”

SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES: We need look no further than the horror show in Gaza, with a level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times. Malnourishment is soaring. Starvation is knocking on every door.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Michael Fakhri, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food. He’s a professor of law at University of Oregon, where he leads the Food Resiliency Project.

Michael Fakhri, welcome back Democracy Now! If you can respond to what’s happening right now, the images of dying infants starving to death, the numbers now at over a hundred, people dropping in the streets, reporters saying they can’t go on? Agence France-Presse’s union talked about they’ve had reporters killed in conflict, they’ve had reporters disappeared, injured, but they have not had this situation before with their reporters starving to death.

MICHAEL FAKHRI: Amy, the word “horror” — I mean, we’re running out of words of what to say. And the reason it’s horrific is it was preventable. We saw this coming. We’ve seen this coming for 20 months. Israel announced its starvation campaign back in October 2023. And then again, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced on March 1st that nothing was to enter Gaza. And that’s what happened for 78 days. No food, no water, no fuel, no medicine entered Gaza. And then they built these militarized aid sites that are used to humiliate, weaken and kill the Palestinians. So, what makes this horrific is it has been preventable, it was predictable. And again, this is the fastest famine we’ve seen, the fastest starvation campaign we’ve seen in modern history.

AMY GOODMAN: So, can you talk about what needs to be done at this point and the responsibility of the occupying power? Israel is occupying Gaza right now. What it means to have to protect the population it occupies?

MICHAEL FAKHRI: The International Court of Justice outlined Israel’s duties in its decisions over the last year. So, what Israel has an obligation to do is, first, end its illegal occupation immediately. This came from the court itself. Second, it must allow humanitarian relief to enter with no restrictions. And this hasn’t been happening. So, usually, we would turn to the Security Council to authorize peacekeepers or something similar to assist. But predictably, again, the United States keeps vetoing anything to do with a ceasefire. When the Security Council is in a deadlock because of a veto, the General Assembly, the United Nations General Assembly, has the authority to call for peacekeepers to accompany humanitarian convoys to enter into Gaza and to end Israel’s starvation campaign against the Palestinian people.

AMY GOODMAN: People actually protested outside the house of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres yesterday. People protested all over the world yesterday against the Palestinians being starved and bombed to death. Those in front of the U.N. secretary-general’s house said they don’t dispute that he has raised this issue almost every day, but they say he can do more. Finally, Michael Fakhri, what does the U.N. need to do — the U.S., Israel, the world?

MICHAEL FAKHRI: So, as I mentioned, first and foremost, they can authorize peacekeepers to enter to stop the starvation. But, second, they need to create consequences. The world has a duty to prevent this starvation. The world has a duty to prevent and end this genocide. And as a result, then, what the world can do is impose sanctions. And again, this is supported by the International Court of Justice. The world needs to impose wide-scale sanctions against the state of Israel to force it to end the starvation and genocide of civilians, of Palestinian civilians in Gaza today.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Michael Fakhri, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, speaking to us from Eugene, Oregon.

Coming up, we look at the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s late-night show on Paramount/CBS just days after he criticized Paramount’s settlement with President Trump. Back in 20 seconds.

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AMY GOODMAN: “Mean to Me” by Sinkane, performing at Democracy Now!