Ten Palestinians, including an infant, have died of starvation in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Meanwhile, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has called on the international community to impose sanctions on Israel.
اضافة اعلان
The Health Ministry announced that the total number of deaths due to starvation and malnutrition has now reached 122, including 83 children.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, sources at Nasser Medical Complex reported the death of a six-month-old Palestinian infant, Zeinab Ahmed Abu Hleib, due to severe malnutrition. The sources confirmed that the infant died as a result of a lack of food and medicine caused by the Israeli blockade on Gaza.
Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director-General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, warned that deaths from hunger are rapidly increasing, particularly among children. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Al-Bursh revealed that more than 3,000 miscarriages and stillbirths have been recorded in Gaza in recent months due to famine and malnutrition.
He added that the world has failed to deliver even a single can of milk to save Palestinian children, who are wasting away before the eyes of doctors powerless to help.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned of an imminent depletion of life-saving therapeutic food supplies for children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza. According to UNICEF officials, current stocks are only sufficient to treat 3,000 children and are expected to run out within three weeks if no new supplies arrive—posing dire consequences for already at-risk children.
UN officials also warned that the lack of high-calorie nutritional supplements could halt programs aimed at preventing malnutrition among vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and children under five.
Call to Sanction Israel
In related news, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, told Al Jazeera that sanctions against Israel are necessary, emphasizing that mere condemnation by some countries is no longer sufficient. He stated that Israel has repeatedly declared its intention to starve the people of Gaza.
Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), also called for an immediate and decisive end to the tragedy in Gaza. Spoljaric said the level of suffering and degradation of human dignity in Gaza has surpassed all legal and moral boundaries.
She stressed that every passing minute without a ceasefire costs more civilian lives. Hostilities are claiming lives without mercy, and death stalks people even as they search for food. Spoljaric highlighted that children are dying from a lack of food, and families are being forced to flee repeatedly in search of elusive safety.
Air-Dropping Aid to Gaza
British newspaper iNews, citing diplomatic sources, reported that the UK is working with international allies to begin air-dropping humanitarian aid into Gaza. The report noted that the British Royal Air Force is expected to lead these efforts.
Previously, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that the Israeli army had destroyed tens of thousands of aid items—including large quantities of food—intended for Gaza residents, amid an unprecedented famine in the besieged enclave.
Military sources claimed that the destroyed aid included supplies equivalent to 1,000 truckloads of food and medical items. They added, "There are thousands of aid packages sitting in the sun. If they are not transported into Gaza, we will have to destroy them."
The Israeli military justified the destruction of the aid by citing “failures in the distribution mechanism” inside Gaza.
The destruction of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid comes at a time when Gaza is suffering from widespread hunger, with its population of 2.3 million people on the brink of famine. This also coincides with global protests and calls from political leaders and international organizations demanding that Israel allow humanitarian aid into the Strip and halt its war on Gaza, now approaching its second year.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel—with U.S. backing—has waged a genocidal war in Gaza, leaving more than 203,000 Palestinians killed or injured, most of them women and children. Over 9,000 remain missing, with hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine has already claimed many lives. – (Al Jazeera)
