The World Health Organization has warned that Gazans face “catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions.” With the successive calls for help from the northern Gaza Strip due to the depletion of food supplies and the occupation preventing the entry of aid, a government official in Gaza told Tel Aviv Tribune that death threatens hundreds of children in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, denied that there was any evidence that those in need in Gaza were receiving sufficient food in quantity and quality, despite reports of increased food deliveries.
Ghebreyesus noted that more than 8,000 children under the age of five have been diagnosed and treated for acute malnutrition, including 1,600 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
He added that due to insecurity and lack of access, only two stabilization centers for patients suffering from acute malnutrition can operate. His organization’s inability to safely provide health services has also led to a lack of clean water and sanitation, and a significant increase in children’s risks of malnutrition.
For his part, Martin Griffiths, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, expected yesterday, Wednesday, that half of the population of the Gaza Strip will face death and famine by mid-July.
“The conflicts in Sudan and Gaza are spiraling out of control, and the war is pushing millions of people to the brink of famine,” Griffiths said in a statement.
He pointed out that “technical matters are what prevent the declaration of famines (in Gaza and Sudan), as people are already dying of hunger” in those areas.
He added, “In Gaza, half of the population, more than a million people, are expected to face death and famine by mid-July.”
Famine and food depletion
Meanwhile, a government official in Gaza told Tel Aviv Tribune that the famine in the north of the Strip has reached a catastrophic extent and that most food commodities have run out. He added that hundreds of children and patients are threatened with death as a result of the “catastrophic” famine, noting that the relevant international institutions are not doing their duty to force the occupation to respect international laws.
The government media office in the Gaza Strip warned that the specter of famine is once again threatening the Gaza and northern governorates, while the food security crisis is deteriorating in the central and southern governorates.
He said that the number of humanitarian aid trucks that entered Gaza this week decreased by 12% compared to last week, while the number of trucks that entered the Gaza and northern governorates last week from the point west of Beit Lahia was only 224 trucks, the majority of which were loaded with flour.
The media office indicated that the occupation is deceiving world public opinion by talking about bringing in trucks that carry only flour, and that it is deliberately reducing their load to increase their number, and their number does not exceed 35 per day.
Tel Aviv Tribune correspondent Anas Al-Sharif monitored the difficult humanitarian situation in Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, where residents are suffering from a shortage of food supplies due to the Israeli occupation tightening its siege on the area.
People are rushing to certain points in an attempt to get some cooked food, following the emptiness of the markets of basic goods and the shortage of water, and the occupation’s destruction and burning of the main warehouses belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The Ministry of Health in Gaza also warned of the cessation of hospitals, health centers and the only oxygen station in Gaza Governorate that supplies health facilities and chronic patients with oxygen, due to the occupation’s control over the crossings and the failure to bring in diesel to operate the generator feeding the oxygen station and the refrigerators for storing medicines. She said that this exposes the lives of dozens of sick and wounded people to inevitable death, in addition to exposing the medicines in refrigerators to spoilage.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza called on all concerned, international and humanitarian institutions to quickly intervene to bring in fuel, in addition to electrical generators and spare parts needed for maintenance.
Hamas condemns
For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) yesterday, Wednesday, condemned the “starvation policy” used by the Israeli occupation, and called on Arab and Islamic countries to pressure to open the crossings and bring in aid.
Hamas’ statement said, “The starvation policy is an extension of the crime of genocide, and Arab and Islamic countries must put pressure to open the crossings and bring in aid.”
The statement said, “The criminal occupation’s use of starvation as a weapon during this fascist aggression is a described war crime, and confirmation of its continuation of the crime of genocide against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, with bombing, massacres, and starvation, in full view of the entire world, in flagrant violation of all international laws.”
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that has left about 122,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing.
Israel continues its war on Gaza, despite two Security Council resolutions to stop the fighting immediately, and orders from the International Court of Justice to end the invasion of Rafah (south) and take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the dire humanitarian situation in the Strip.