Waterborne diseases up nearly 150 percent in Gaza: Oxfam
A UK-based charity warns about the crippling healthcare situation posed by the deliberate blockade of aid by Israel, with waterborne diseases increasing nearly 150 percent in the Gaza Strip.
Oxfam said the Palestinian enclave has become a “petri dish of disease” due to the blockade of aid, while millions of dollars’ worth of humanitarian aid pile up in warehouses across the region.
“Water-borne diseases that are both preventable and readily treatable have increased by almost 150 percent inside Gaza over the past three months as Israel continues to deliberately block aid,” it noted.
The charity said the number of Palestinians presenting at health facilities with acute watery diarrhoea has increased 150 percent, bloody diarrhoea is up 302 percent, and acute jaundice cases have climbed 101 percent, citing multi-agency health data.
Oxfam warned that the surge of disease can “quickly turn deadly”, especially as Palestinians have been deprived of food, water, shelter, and adequate healthcare for more than 21 months.
One more child starves to death in Gaza
Palestinian child Abdul Qader al-Fayoumi has died as a result of malnutrition and starvation, according to a source at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, speaking to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that at least 115 Palestinians have starved to death in the enclave since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. Most of the deaths, which include many children, have been in recent weeks.
Four aid seekers among 11 Palestinians killed in Gaza since dawn
Israeli forces have killed at least 11 Palestinians in Gaza since dawn, including four aid seekers.
Visible signs of malnutrition appear among elderly people in Gaza
The situation in Gaza has reached a very critical point.
We can see that malnutrition is unmistakably rampant across the Strip, specifically among children under the age of five. And recently, we started seeing visible signs of malnutrition among elderly people and men as well as women.
The GHF has failed comprehensively to meet the needs of Gaza’s population. It is viewed by people here as a new aid mechanism that is militarising humanitarian aid. People are reported killed near the GHF sites on a daily basis.
‘We won’t give up,’ journalist in Gaza says
Al Jazeera has spoken with Noor al-Shana, an independent journalist in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, about the deepening crisis of malnutrition and starvation.
The crisis, she said, now affects everyone – and every aspect of life – in Gaza. “I have been facing a lot of struggles to find food,” even one meal per day, said al-Shana, who has four relatives who were killed at GHF-run aid sites while seeking food.
“It’s not easy to continue in this war,” she said. “But we won’t give up for people in Gaza, for our right to live in dignity, to live like people around the world.”
Palestinians receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City on July 25
