The United Nations Human Rights Office has documented the deaths of 875 people over the past six weeks in Gaza at aid distribution sites supervised by the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” which is supported by the US and Israel. Deaths also occurred in areas near other relief convoys, including those belonging to the UN.
The UN office noted that most of the victims fell near the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” sites, while another 201 people died while passing through routes used by various relief convoys.
Thameen Al-Khaitan, spokesperson for the Human Rights Office in Geneva, stated that the figures are derived from various reliable sources, including humanitarian, health, and human rights organizations.
The UN criticized the distribution model followed by the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” considering it inherently unsafe and a violation of humanitarian neutrality standards.
In a related development, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Tuesday that one out of every ten children examined in its clinics in Gaza suffers from malnutrition.
Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s Director of Communications, revealed during a press conference from Amman that malnutrition rates have significantly increased since the tightening of the Israeli blockade last March.
UNRWA clarified that since the beginning of the year, it has examined more than 240,000 children under the age of five, emphasizing that cases of malnutrition were rare in Gaza before the war. Touma added that their health teams are observing a severe shortage of medicines, nutritional supplies, and fuel.
She also mentioned that Israel lifted the ban on humanitarian aid entry for 11 weeks on May 19, allowing limited shipments from the UN to enter, while UNRWA remains prohibited from bringing aid into the Strip.
In a related context, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced on Monday the diagnosis of over 5,800 children with malnutrition last month alone, including more than a thousand suffering from severe acute malnutrition. This marks a continuous rise for the fourth consecutive month.
