CNN Guest Dismisses Children Dying of Starvation in Gaza: ‘They Launched Missiles’ 

Former California Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado hand-waved away concerns about famine and starving children in Gaza by citing Hamas’s terrorist attacks against Israel nearly two years ago.

Gaza health officials estimate that at least 55,000 people in the territory have been killed since Israel invaded after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, when Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis and abducted more than 200 others.

On Thursday’s CNN NewsNight, host Abby Phillip and panelists discussed the ongoing starvation in Gaza, thanks to an Israeli blockade on the region. Israel allows a very limited distribution of food via the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S. organization backed by the Israeli government, which has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians at food distribution centers, according to the United Nations. A New York Times report published on Thursday said Gazans are facing a famine wrought by Israel’s blockade.

One of the CNN NewsNight panelists, Kat Abughazaleh, a Palestinian American and former Media Matters employee who is running for Congress in Illinois, made the case for Israel to allow more food to be let into Gaza.

“I am from one of those families,” she said. “My father’s parents were Nakba survivors. I do not want Israeli children to live in fear, and I don’t want Gazan children to starve to death. And there is no enemy of either state that could want me to wish that or excuse the starvation of children. It is that simple. Food is being blocked. It is being blocked. This is a manmade humanitarian disaster. It could stop at any point. We could be putting pressure on this.”

Maldonado interrupted to say that “they” had launched missiles from hospitals and schools.

“Kat, they launch missiles from hospitals,” Maldonado said. “They launched missiles from preschools. This is what Hamas is.”

Abughazaleh responded by saying there is no excuse for Israel’s actions.

Watch above via CNN.