DaysofPal- Israeli occupation forces continue to choke the lives of civilians in Gaza using the weapons of hunger and thirst alongside rockets and shelling, amid a noticeable rise in malnutrition cases among children and adults, flooding a health system unable to cope with the grim reality of the ongoing genocide war for 21 months.
According to recent statistics by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), one in every ten children examined in its clinics suffers from malnutrition. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported over 5,800 cases of child malnutrition in June alone, marking the fourth consecutive month of increase.
At her modest tent on the beach in Deir al-Balah city, Riham Hassouna, displaced ten times since the war began from Khan Younis, faces an uncertain fate. She said, “The war has exhausted us. Diseases have invaded our bodies; we have all aged… Where is the world? Where are the UN and human rights organizations? Stop this genocide.” She added to “Palestine Online”: “Our children cry from the heat and hunger… We have not tasted bread for a week.”
Gaza, where nearly two million people live in areas that do not exceed 15% of the Strip due to Israeli military operations, suffers from a severe flour shortage. This vital commodity is only available through the so-called “death route” leading to aid distribution points run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the US and the Israeli occupation.
The UN Human Rights Commission has documented the killing of at least 875 Palestinians in the past six weeks near aid distribution points adjacent to Israeli army sites.
Inside her plastic tent, Manal Sahwil holds her daughter Dana, who has cerebral palsy since birth. The mother laments the hardship of life after her husband was killed in the war, leaving her with six children, one of whom requires daily treatment, nutrition, and clean water.
She told “Palestine Online”: “I cannot provide the minimum necessities for my children; no food, no drink, not even diapers… Most days, the children sleep hungry.”
Meanwhile, World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain said families in Gaza are starving while the program has enough food at the borders to feed over a million people for four months. However, it cannot deliver these supplies due to Israel’s tight blockade of all crossings since early March.
Despite recent rumors of an agreement between the European Union and Israel to allow more food trucks into Gaza and open additional crossing points, European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced, the director of Gaza’s network of civil society organizations, Amjad Al-Shawa, denied knowledge of such an agreement, affirming Gaza’s ongoing famine and unprecedented humanitarian disaster.
Al-Shawa told “Palestine Online”: “Israel still enforces a strict military siege on all crossings and does not allow the entry of aid trucks or food, medicine, or even baby supplies.”
He added, “We have only heard about this agreement through media reports, but there are no tangible changes or field actions. The living conditions continue to worsen after 135 days of a complete closure of all Gaza’s outlets.”
He pointed to the collapse of the sector’s hospitals due to shortages of medicine, fuel, and medical supplies, greatly increasing risks to patients and health facilities.
He also highlighted the summer water crisis caused by the destruction of 85% of the infrastructure by the occupation and the prevention of fuel delivery needed to operate the remaining water wells, forcing residents to use unsafe water and leading to epidemics and diseases.
Al-Shawa confirmed that the occupation deliberately engineers starvation in Gaza and militarizes aid to deepen the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Strip. He called on the international community to pressure the occupation to fully open all crossings and allow UN and local organizations to deliver food, medical, and vital supplies, and ultimately to stop the genocide war.
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