DaysofPal- The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Thursday that the total number of victims of famine and malnutrition has risen to 239 martyrs, including 106 children, after four new deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours due to the ongoing Israeli siege and the prevention of humanitarian aid from entering the Strip.
The ministry warned that the continued closure of border crossings and the blocking of vital supplies by Israeli forces are pushing the humanitarian situation toward an unprecedented catastrophe, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, including children, patients, and the elderly, at risk of dying from hunger and lack of medicine.
In a joint statement published today, more than 100 international non-governmental organizations, including Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders, stated that the Israeli occupation forces use new regulations governing the work of aid organizations to deliberately obstruct the delivery of assistance to Gaza.
The statement said that these rules, introduced in March, require organizations to submit lists of their Palestinian staff members for security screening, a condition the NGOs described as “illegal,” warning that it endangers aid teams, undermines their independence, and is aimed at “restricting humanitarian activity.”
According to the statement, the Israeli occupation rejected at least 60 requests to deliver humanitarian aid into the Strip in July alone, leaving shipments of food, medicine, water, and emergency equipment worth millions of dollars stuck in warehouses in Jordan, Egypt, and the port of Ashdod.
Since March 2, the Israeli occupation forces have closed all crossings into Gaza, preventing any humanitarian aid from entering except for limited quantities that fail to meet even the minimum needs of the starving population, despite the buildup of relief trucks at its borders.
This comes as the Israeli genocide on the enclave, ongoing since October 7, 2023, has been described by human rights groups and the International Court of Justice as genocide, involving killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, all with U.S. support, in total disregard for international calls to halt the onslaught.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the war has so far killed 61,599 Palestinians and injured 154,088 others, most of them women and children, in addition to more than 9,000 missing persons and hundreds of thousands displaced. Famine alone had claimed 227 lives, including 103 children, before today’s death toll rose to 239.
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