“I’ve never seen anything like this”

Hey there, Meteor readers,

My Christmas tree is still up and I feel no shame about that. So if you, too, are a delayed tree remover, I see you and I love you.

In today’s newsletter, we look at the devastating food crisis in Gaza. Plus, Claudine Gay speaks for herself, a big week for lawsuits, and your weekend reads.

Lazily yours,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Starving to death: In late December, the United Nations released a report detailing “acute food insecurity” throughout Gaza. At the time, reporters found that more than 90 percent of the over 600,000 people living in the Gaza Strip were starving. At least 335,000 children were at risk of “severe malnutrition and preventable death,” according to the report.

As we enter the fourth month of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, the “entirely manmade…preventable catastrophic” food conditions are worsening. In an interview with The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner, Arif Husain, the chief economist at the United Nations World Food Program, described the situation as unprecedented. “I’ve never seen anything like this in terms of severity, in terms of scale, and then in terms of speed,” he says. Husain notes that the main contributing factor to the food crisis is inadequate and inaccessible aid. “On a good day, aid groups are bringing in maybe twenty-five to thirty percent of what [Gazans] need,” he told Chotiner. And the constant bombings and ground invasions by the Israeli military mean that even that small percentage doesn’t get properly distributed.

All in all, Husain says 577,000 people in Gaza are classified as “I.P.C. Phase 5, meaning a catastrophic type of hunger.” That number accounts for 80 percent of the total global I.P.C. population.

This degree of intentional starvation is also considered a war crime. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court classifies “the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population” as a “crime against humanity.”

As Husain makes clear, “[Aid] needs to go to where the people are. And I don’t know how you can do that without a humanitarian ceasefire.”

ALSO IN THE NEWS

• After resigning from her position as president of Harvard University on Tuesday, Claudine Gay is reclaiming the narrative that led to her ouster. In an op-ed for The New York Times, Gay defended her scholarship—and pointed out that the attacks on her character and her work at Harvard were thinly veiled “attacks on education and expertise, because these are the tools that best equip communities to see through propaganda.” Gay also gives voice to what many were already thinking: The calls for her ouster were racially motivated. “Those who had relentlessly campaigned to oust me since the fall often trafficked in lies and ad hominem insults, not reasoned argument. They recycled tired racial stereotypes about Black talent and temperament.”

• You may have seen on Monday that singer Paula Abdul filed suit against British TV producer Nigel Lythgoe, alleging that he and other producers involved with American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance sexually harassed and committed acts of gender-based violence against her. Now, another lawsuit has been filed against Lythgoe—this time by two contestants of the show All American Girl, accusing him of sexual assault and battery.

• Speaking of lawsuits, one was filed on Tuesday accusing rapper T.I and his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris, of raping a woman in 2005. This is the second time that the same Jane Doe has tried to file charges against the Harrises—but due to the statute of limitations, the LAPD could not pursue criminal charges in 2021. Now, under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover-Up Accountability Act—which temporarily extends that statute—Doe can legally file a civil suit against the couple. They have both denied any wrongdoing.

• Despite escalations in attacks, Russia and Ukraine managed to carry out a prisoner exchange of hundreds of soldiers and civilians, some of whom had been in captivity since before the beginning of the war in February 2022.

• I am once again begging literally anyone to take away Donald Trump’s devices after the former president published a barrage of bullying messages on Truth Social today attacking E. Jean Carroll.

• The much-hyped and long-awaited list of powerful men tied to Jeffrey Epstein has been released, and there is not a single surprising name on it.

• A 13-year-old in Oklahoma is believed to be the first person ever to beat Tetris. This 31-year-old in New Jersey is stunned to discover that Tetris is beatable!

• Extremely important soccer news! USWNT stars Emily Sonnett and Rose Lavelle have officially signed with NJ/NY Gotham FC, which means as soon as soccer season starts, I will be trespassing at Red Bull Arena on a weekly basis trying to hug one or both of them.

WEEKEND READING 📚

On ice: The Professional Women’s Hockey League is in its inaugural season and is already breaking attendance records. Could this be the league that lasts? (The Athletic)

On the frontier: Pregnancy care in rural areas across the U.S. is dwindling, and those most at risk are Indigenous infants up against a congenital syphilis crisis. (Vox)

On screen: Yet another lawsuit has come out against the production companies behind Love is Blind. What the hell’s going on over there? (The Cut)

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