Chicago groups call for more aid in Gaza to end hunger crisis: 'This is about humanity'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The growing hunger crisis in Gaza continues. Dozens have been killed and more than 200 have been injured while seeking aid in Northern Gaza.

In the Chicago area, there is a grassroots effort to put pressure on elected officials to do more to end the hunger crisis.

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President Donald Trump says he's working with European nations to set up food centers in the region. ABC News reported that U.S. special envoy for the middle east, Steve Witkoff, will arrive in Israel Thursday for a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In the comfort of a Chicago church, Gaza native Alla Samman spoke to faith leaders as his family in Gaza spends their days looking for food and water. As images of starving children continue to be shown, United Nations-backed experts say famine is imminent.

Samman described his father's normal day in Gaza.

"My father walks through shattered streets to search for water, even before sunrise lines are already long, even after hours of waiting he leaves empty handed," Samman said.

Samman, the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, faith leaders and the Chicago-based humanitarian organization MedGlobal are demanding a cease fire and a full scale immediate humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"There are 70,000 children in Gaza that are suffering from severe acute malnutrition," said Dr. Zaher Sahloul, MedGlobal co-founder and president.

As children run into the water to grab basics like salt, flower and sugar, Israel is now allowing food and medicine to be dropped from air and delivered by land, but many say it is not nearly enough after aid was blocked for months.

"This is not about religion or politics, this is about humanity, this is about a moral line that hold never be crossed and it has been crossed repeatedly," said Dr. Abdulgany Hamadeh with The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.

While Prime Minister Netanyahu denies starvation in Gaza, President Trump disagrees.

"Some of those kids, that's real starvation," Trump said. "I see it. You can't fake that. We are going to be more involved."

SEE ALSO | A famine hasn't been declared in Gaza, but that may not matter, experts say

The Trump administration approved a grant for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to provide aid, but Illinois 6th District Congressman Sean Casten, a strong supporter of the U.S.-Israel relationship, led 92 House Democrats in a letter to Secretary of State Marcia Rubio demanding an investigation into the private foundation.

"You have trucks going in, driven by people who have no experience delivering humanitarian aid, who don't know what it is like to provide security," Casten said.

In a written statement about the situation in Gaza, Chicago's Jewish United Fund wrote in part, "We acknowledge the profound humanitarian crisis facing the people of Gaza, who are suffering deeply in a war Hamas initiated. As in all wars, civilians always pay the highest price."

According to UNICEF, there have been dozens of children who have died from malnutrition.