Thousands of children in Gaza are in danger of imminent death after a total Israeli blockage of almost three months on the besieged enclave, which propagated famine, warns the head of the United Nations.
This put 14,000 babies at risk of dying in the next 48 hours, Tom Fletcher said in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday.
“We have to flood the Gaza Humanitarian Aid Strip,” said the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, describing the situation as “frightening”.
Any food, medicine and other vital aid had been blocked by Israel to enter Gaza from March 2. On Monday, an aid net was allowed to enter for the first time since, but was not immediately distributed.
Addressing the European humanitarian forum in Brussels on Tuesday, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said that the rescue organizations have missed words to describe the horrors that take place in Gaza in the hands of Israel.
“But the worst part in all of this is that we are faced with a situation: if there is a political will, war can stop. The seat imposed in Gaza can be raised,” said Lazzarini.
Since the beginning of March, at least 57 children have died of malnutrition.
An assessment of the classification of the Integrated Food Security phase not sustained (IPC) indicates that more than 93% of the children in Gaza, or around 930,000, risk famine
UNRWA’s director of health, Akihiro Seita, added Tuesday that the situation is getting worse “exponentially” and could soon reach a point “out of our control”.
Israel told the UN on Tuesday that it would allow the entrance to 100 trucks with humanitarian aid, one day after declaring that it had only granted nine aid trucks in the enclave for the first time in more than 80 days.
But UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that no humanitarian aid had yet been distributed, although more supplies were placed on the Palestinian side of Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom).
The Israeli movements have been definitively criticized to fulfill a “ocean gout” of humanitarian needs in Gaza, which has been largely reduced in rubble by Israeli air strikes and ground operations, which were extended this weekend.
The Israeli attacks continue to kill dozens of Palestinians, including many children, every day when what remains of infrastructure and aid supplies is destroyed.
The municipality of Deir El-Balah in the center of Gaza announced on Tuesday that a major well, the last remaining source of drinking water in the region, was destroyed with its generator in an Israeli strike.
This occurs because more than 100,000 Palestinians have been driven out of their houses and shelters in only last days, according to the UN, and have nowhere to go when they are faced with famine.
The Israeli army bombed the Nasser medical complex on Tuesday in southern Khan Younis from the south of Gaza, hitting vital medical supplies and causing general destruction in the various hospital facilities, including oxygen lines and a laboratory.
“In northern Gaza, the Indonesian hospital is besieged by the Israeli army with patients incapable of entering or going out,” said Hind Khoudary of Tel Aviv Tribune, reporting Deir El-Balah.
“Apart from Nasser and Indonesian hospitals, two other major hospitals in Gaza, Europeans and Al-Awda, have been bombed and largely put out of service in recent days,” she added.
Tess Ingram, a UNICEF communications director, explained to Tel Aviv Tribune why a program developed by the United States and Israel to take control of the aid distribution in Gaza was unacceptable to the international community.
She said that the UN and its international partners had 400 distribution points everywhere in Gaza to help Palestinians while now, only a “handful” of militarized points in southern Gaza will be used in the American-Israeli plan.
“It would mean that people should walk a long way to collect a package that weighs up to 25 kg (55 lb), then go up,” she said.
Speaking on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that only “minimal” aid will be authorized in Gaza for diplomatic and political reasons, because international pressure and conviction are addressed to him and his government.
His far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said that the authorization of all aid in Gaza while certain Israeli captives taken during the attacks led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, are still held inside the enclave is “a serious error hinders our victory”.
While the soldiers and the Israeli government continue to promise to “overcome” Hamas, devastating military strikes on Palestinian territory have intensified.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday afternoon that it had attacked 100 targets in Gaza in the previous 24 hours, saying that they were all “terrorist” targets.
At least 53,573 Palestinians were killed and 121,688 injured since the start of the war, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
