Church of England archbishop urges action to save starving children in Gaza, Ukraine

ATHENS 

The top cleric of the Church of England on Sunday called for action to save starving children in Gaza and Sudan.

Delivering his Easter Sunday sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby urged action for the starving children of Gaza and Sudan, and the parents who desperately try to find food for them.

He also called for aid to the civilian population in Ukraine, where some 25-30% of the children face poverty.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 32,782 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 75,200 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which asked Israel to do more to prevent famine in Gaza on Thursday. It warned that “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine ... but that famine is setting in.”