‘Bread Not Bombs’: Doctors chant in Capitol protest for Gaza ceasefire
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Doctors Against Genocide and WHO officials have urgently called for an end to "Israel’s" blockade and military assault on Gaza.
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Doctors Against Genocide (DAG) visit US Capitol Hill to advocate for immediate action to end the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, in Washington, DC, United States on April 30, 2025 (Anadolu via AFP)
Doctors Against Genocide (DAG) visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday to call for urgent action to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to Anadolu Agency.
The global healthcare coalition appealed to US lawmakers to push for an immediate and lasting ceasefire amid the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip.
They also called for an end to the Israeli blockade and demanded unrestricted humanitarian aid access to Gaza, where Palestinians, including around 1 million children, are suffering from starvation, disease, and death.
"Bread, not bombs!" and "Let the children eat!", the physicians screamed at the Hart Building, clutching bread.
Karameh Kuemmerle, a pediatric neurologist based in Boston, decried the "deliberate malnutrition, starvation, and attack on health care in Gaza has worsened and potentially portends the extermination of masses of the Gaza population, particularly tens of thousands of children."
Dr. Brennan Bollman, who recently returned from Gaza, expressed that there had been "zero aid and zero food" for eight weeks, emphasizing how Palestinian healthcare workers are acting "beyond compassion, beyond skillful dedication, beyond courage," by continuing their professional duties despite the death of their family members.
Bollman called for the end of the "illegal and unconscionable blockade" and advocated for a ceasefire.
WHO: We are ‘breaking the bodies and minds’ of Gaza’s children
The minds and bodies of Gaza’s children are being shattered, said Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, as the region endures a total ban on aid deliveries and continued Israeli airstrikes.
“We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza. We are complicit,” Ryan told reporters at WHO headquarters.
“As a physician, I am angry. It is an abomination,” he added, warning that cases of pneumonia and meningitis in women and children could increase.
As of April 25, 2025, the United Nations World Food Program reported that its food supplies in Gaza had been depleted due to the ongoing blockade. Approximately 80% of Gaza's over 2 million residents rely on humanitarian aid, and markets face extreme shortages with soaring prices, rendering essentials unaffordable.
The blockade has been condemned by rights groups as a potential war crime. Malnutrition is escalating rapidly, with the UN reporting that 3,700 children are suffering acute malnutrition in March, an 80% increase from the previous month.
WFP has fully depleted its food stocks in #Gaza.
— World Food Programme (@WFP) April 25, 2025
Today, the last supplies were delivered to hot meal kitchens — Gaza’s only steady source of food for weeks. These kitchens will run out of ingredients in the coming days.
Read full statement.🔗https://t.co/OQCpJQcMfg pic.twitter.com/QaXY5CsbHx
