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People are starving to death in Gaza: How hunger plays a role in war throughout history

Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. The World Food Program said Tuesday it has paused deliveries of food to isolated northern Gaza because of increasing chaos across the territory, hiking fears of potential starvation. A study by the U.N. children's agency warned that one in six children in the north are acutely malnourished. (Fatima Shbair/AP)
Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. The World Food Program said Tuesday it has paused deliveries of food to isolated northern Gaza because of increasing chaos across the territory, hiking fears of potential starvation. A study by the U.N. children's agency warned that one in six children in the north are acutely malnourished. (Fatima Shbair/AP)

People are dying from hunger and malnutrition in Gaza, a result of the little aid trickling into the besieged region because of Israel’s restrictions. Israel denies it’s using starvation as a weapon of war.

We speak with Yara Asi, author of “How War Kills: The Overlooked Threats to Our Health,” about the situation in Gaza and how it compares to other wars throughout history. She’s an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida in the School of Global Health Management and co-director of the Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.

Click here for more coverage and different points of view.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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