Children in shelter centers in the northern Gaza Strip face hunger while waiting for humanitarian aid (Anatolia)
Yesterday, Tuesday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced the death of two infants in Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip due to dehydration and malnutrition, amid the worsening hunger crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip, while the United Nations warned that a quarter of the Gaza Strip’s population is one step away from famine.
The Ministry stressed that drought and malnutrition will claim the lives of thousands of children and pregnant women in the Gaza Strip.
The Ministry of Health called on international institutions to conduct a comprehensive medical survey in shelters throughout the Gaza Strip to monitor and treat those suffering from dehydration and malnutrition and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.
Risk of starvation
In a related context, two prominent United Nations officials warned - yesterday, Tuesday - the UN Security Council that thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip face the risk of death from starvation.
The director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told the Security Council that at least 576,000 people in Gaza, or a quarter of the population, are one step away from famine.
He stressed that one in every 6 children under the age of two in northern Gaza suffers from acute malnutrition, while almost all residents of the Strip depend on humanitarian food aid that is completely insufficient to survive.
Imminent famine
For his part, Karl Skau, deputy director of the World Food Program, said that Gaza is witnessing the worst level of child malnutrition anywhere in the world, adding that if nothing changes, famine is imminent in northern Gaza.
He pointed out that without safe and widespread access to aid, aid workers cannot carry out their work on the scale required to confront the severe humanitarian crisis ravaging Gaza.
The Security Council meeting came in the wake of a letter sent by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, to the Security Council, on February 22, detailing the direct and indirect effects of the war in Gaza on the food situation.
The letter demanded immediate action to prevent famine resulting from the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
In this context, the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said the day before Monday that this month witnessed a 50% decrease in aid entering Gaza compared to last January.
Collapse of agriculture
In turn, Maurizio Martina, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that agricultural production in the north is likely to collapse by next May, increasing the risk of famine.
He pointed out that about 46% of agricultural land in the Gaza Strip was damaged, while 97% of groundwater was no longer suitable for human consumption.
Source: Agencies