The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday that more than 66,000 children in the Gaza Strip are suffering from severe malnutrition due to the starvation policy that Israel continues to implement, following the closure of the crossings and the prevention of the entry of relief aid for more than two months.
UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna added in a statement that “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are eating one meal every two or three days.”
Since March 2, the Israeli occupation authorities have closed the crossings with the Gaza Strip to the entry of food, relief, medical aid, and goods, causing a significant deterioration in the humanitarian situation for Palestinians, according to government, human rights, and international reports.
According to medical sources, the death toll from starvation has risen to 57 since the beginning of the aggression, warning of an increase in the number, given the closure of the crossings and the prevention of the entry of relief aid for more than two months.
Palestinian government and UN officials have repeatedly warned of the dangers of Israel’s continued closure of the crossings and its prevention of the entry of essential supplies, including food, medicine, fuel, and water. The Gaza Strip has been under siege for two months.
According to a report by the Hebrew news website Walla on Monday, the Israeli government’s security cabinet approved a plan the day before yesterday to resume the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through an international fund and private companies. This mechanism has sparked widespread rejection from the Palestinian side and international institutions, as it violates humanitarian principles.
Commenting on the plan, the International Humanitarian Country Team in the occupied Palestinian territory said, “Israel has sought to shut down the current aid distribution system run by the United Nations and its humanitarian partners. This plan contravenes international humanitarian principles, is dangerous, pushes civilians into military zones to obtain rations, threatens lives, and further entrenches forced displacement.”
The Humanitarian Country Team is a strategic body led by the United Nations, comprising representatives of UN agencies and Palestinian and international NGOs, and operates under the supervision of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher have previously announced that the organization will not participate in any plan that does not adhere to the universal humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation forces have waged an ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has so far resulted in the killing of 52,567 civilians, the majority of whom are children and women, and the injury of 118,610 others.
