UNICEF claims that children face a “growing risk of famine, illness and death” because Israel prohibits food and other aid deliveries.
Thousands of Palestinian children from the Gaza Strip face an increased threat of famine, warned the United Nations, while the continuous blocking of Israel of food, water and other critical supplies with besieged and bombed coastal territories enters its third month.
On Friday, the United Nations Child Rights Agency (UNICEF) said on Friday that more than 9,000 children had been admitted to treatment for acute malnutrition since the start of the year.
But the situation has worsened since Israel imposed a total blockage on the Palestinian enclave in early March.
“For two months, the children of the Gaza Strip were faced with implacable bombardments while being deprived of essential goods, service and rescue care,” said UNICEF director general, Catherine Russell, in a statement.
“With each day passing from the blockade of aid, they are faced with the growing risk of famine, illness and death – nothing can justify this.”
Israel has prevented all humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians in Gaza since March 2, stimulating international condemnation.
The United Nations World Food World Food Program said last week that its food supplies had been “exhausted” in the middle of the seat, warning that community kitchens on which Thousands of Palestinians are forced to close.
“We are not asking whether food is nutritious or not, if it is cool or good; it is a luxury, we just want to fill the stomach from our children,” the stomach stomach recently told the crisis. “I don’t want my child to die.”
The Israeli government said its blockade was intended to put pressure on the Palestinian group Hamas to release captives held in Gaza. But that has no longer led to versions from the ephemeral ceasefire earlier this year, which saw Palestinian prisoners exchanged for Israeli captives.
Meanwhile, Hamas manager Abdel Rahman Shadid accused Israel of having used famine as a “deliberate war” against the Palestinians.
“Children die for lack of milk, not just bombs,” said Shadid in a statement published on the group’s Telegram channel.
Legal experts and human rights groups have noted that as a occupying power, Israel has an obligation under international law to provide food and other Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
They condemned the blockade as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians of all ages experience high levels of food insecurity in Gaza.
Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO network, told Tel Aviv Tribune that the situation was growing quickly because health establishments did not have the supplies necessary to treat children struggling with malnutrition.
“We do not have food supplies or additional equipment or medicines for these children,” Shawa said in Tel Aviv Tribune de Gaza City. “There is a great concern that we will attend more victims in the coming days,” he added.
At Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, Dr Ahmed Abu Nasir said the situation had become worse because of the blockade.
“Children are at their growth stage and seriously need certain nutrients, including proteins and fats,” the pediatrician told Tel Aviv Tribune. “These are not available in the Gaza Strip, especially in the North.”
More than 52,400 Palestinians have been killed since the War of Israel against Gaza began in October 2023, according to figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
