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Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the number of victims of the Israeli targeting of civilians waiting for aid at the Nabulsi roundabout in Gaza City yesterday, Wednesday, rose to two martyrs and nine wounded. The correspondent added that a number of those injured had arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital in the city.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the death toll from malnutrition and dehydration had risen to 20 martyrs in the Strip.

In light of United Nations warnings of worsening famine amid the ongoing devastating Israeli war on Gaza.

Last week, the Dawar al-Nabulsi area witnessed a massacre in which 116 Palestinians were martyred when the occupation forces opened fire on civilians while they were trying to obtain food supplies from aid trucks.

Earlier, Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that 7 people were martyred and at least 10 were injured when the occupation army fired bullets and shells at citizens who were waiting for aid near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint in the central Gaza Strip.

After the United Nations warned that famine had become almost inevitable in Gaza if no action was taken to avoid it, the spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, told Al Jazeera that the countries with the greatest influence on Israel must exercise their influence to stop the fire and bring in aid, and described the situation in Gaza as tragic. Stressing the need to open additional corridors for the entry of aid.

He added, "Without a ceasefire, we cannot perform our humanitarian work in the required manner, and we cannot meet the needs of people on the ground. Now, we do humanitarian work whenever we have the opportunity to do so. We are trying to reach those in need as much as possible, so we urgently need to open additional corridors." To bring in aid because the Rafah and Abu Salem crossings are insufficient.”

The UN spokesman pointed out that airdrops and searches by sea do not replace the opening of land crossings.

In this context, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Palestine, James McGoldrick, said that the airdrops are not targeted and do not reach the people who need them.

He added in a press conference that these operations help, but they are not an alternative to delivering humanitarian aid by land, as he put it.

McGoldrick warned of the worsening food crisis and health conditions in the Gaza Strip, and explained that the situation in northern Gaza, hygiene and health conditions, and food shortages affect the most vulnerable segment in the region.

He stated that he followed deaths due to hunger in Gaza from various sources and reports, noting the death of a 14-day-old infant due to hunger.

For her part, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Paula Gaviria Bettencourt, condemned Israel's continued efforts to obstruct humanitarian aid and use it as a weapon, including attacks on civilians requesting assistance.

Bettencourt stressed that any evacuation order imposed on Rafah under the current circumstances would be a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

Martyrs of hunger

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, reported the death of a 15-year-old boy in Al-Shifa Medical Complex, and a 72-year-old elderly man in Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza as a result of malnutrition and dehydration, raising the death toll from malnutrition and dehydration to 20 in the sector.

Al-Qudra pointed out that the announced toll reflects only what reaches hospitals, and that dozens of others die silently as a result of starvation without reaching hospitals.

The health spokesman confirmed that famine in Gaza has reached fatal levels, especially among children, pregnant women, and those suffering from chronic diseases, calling for immediate entry of humanitarian and medical aid.

Al-Qudra also called on the international community and the United Nations to use all pressure tools to ensure an immediate cessation of the aggression and to take urgent measures to prevent the humanitarian and health catastrophe in northern Gaza.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, massive destruction of infrastructure and a humanitarian catastrophe, which led to Israel appearing before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing genocide.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies