Gaza Medical Relief: 17,000 children suffer from severe malnutrition in besieged territory
A total of 17,000 children in Gaza suffer from severe malnutrition, the director of Medical Relief in Gaza said, as Israel continues its humanitarian blockade of the besieged territory.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Dr Mohammed Abu Afash said the situation is “deteriorating day by day, and we are in the fifth stage of famine”, adding that the lack of milk for children is causing serious health problems for them.
“If medicines and medical supplies are not delivered immediately, the death rate will accelerate,” he added. “There is no food or drink, and no aid has been delivered for the past five months.”
A protester in Israel’s Sakhnin holds a picture during a protest calling on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end hunger in Gaza
Another infant starves to death in Gaza during Israel’s blockade
The latest person to starve to death in Gaza is an infant, Zainab Abu Halib. Her family says she died because she was malnourished and they could not get milk for her. Not only could they not afford the formula, they simply could not find any to buy.
Her family said they saw her dying slowly every day due to the lack of food and medical treatment. They went to the hospital, but the hospital did not have any treatment for her.
Her death brings the number of Palestinians who have died from malnutrition and starvation in Gaza to 123 with at least 84 of those children and babies.
Israel must immediately lift fuel and access restrictions in Gaza: Oxfam
There should not be any restrictions on aid or fuel when the entire population of Gaza faces starvation and more than 80 children have died of hunger, Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam policy lead in the occupied Palestinian territory, says.
“What world do we live where I’m an hour and a half away from Gaza and there are children starving miles from me and there’s an abundance of food here?” she told Al Jazeera from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
“The main point is that there is a siege on Gaza, that Israel has occupied 88 percent of Gaza, that most of Gaza is an active conflict zone and that we are unable to operate under these conditions.”
Khalidi pointed out that even if there were access for aid groups, there is no way for the UN and other international organisations to deliver it to those most in need under live fire from Israeli soldiers. She said Israeli authorities have not provided any safe routes to warehouses or delivery points for Palestinian civilians.
“The crossings are closed, so what we need is opening them, lifting the restrictions and arbitrary delays and denials by Israeli authorities,” she said, adding that “just dumping aid at the border” is meaningless when none of it reaches people.
