'Man-made mass starvation' gripping Gaza and killing children, WHO says
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of a 'deadly surge' in malnutrition-related deaths and man-made 'mass starvation' as aid is blocked from getting into Gaza.
The UN health agency said 21 children under the age of five had died from malnutrition in Gaza so far this year and that more than 30,000 children the same age were currently suffering from acute malnutrition.
At least one in five pregnant and breastfeeding women are also malnourished.
WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the malnutrition was caused by the aid blockage.
'I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it's man-made, and that's very clear,' Mr Ghebreyesus said.
Mr Ghebreyesus said acute malnutrition centers in Gaza were full and there were not enough supplies.
The warning comes as Israeli strikes kill at least 29 people in Gaza on Wednesday night, including nine children and a pregnant woman. Gaza residents try to access food at a community kitchen. / Credit: AP
In Deir al-Balah, Dalia Siam said her and her son, Saeed sometimes do not eat for days.
'I swear there comes days where we don't actually eat for three days in a row, we only live on water,' she said.
'Saaed for instance is living for four days now on water and salt.
'Even when I find something to feed him, I have to find starch and water, and without sugar, because Saeed gets very tired, and we suffer from this a lot in the war.' A woman carries a sack of flour she got from an aid truck in Gaza. / Credit: AP
The WHO comments follow an open letter from more than 100 international aid agencies warning of mass starvation across Gaza, claiming workers and citizens were 'wasting away' as access to tons of food and medical supplies was blocked.
In the joint letter, the organisations wrote that the UN-led humanitarian system had been 'prevented from functioning', urging governments to help restore the full flow of food, clean water and medical supplies.
Those agencies include Save the Children, Médecins Sans Frontières and Oxfam International.
The letter stated that there were 'tons' of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sitting untouched within Gaza or just outside the region, but that organisations had been blocked from accessing or delivering the stock. Palestinians hold onto an aid truck in Gaza on Tuesday. / Credit: AP
'Humanitarian agencies have the capacity and supplies to respond at scale, but with access denied, we are blocked from reaching those in need, including our own exhausted and starved teams,' the letter read.
'Survival is dangled like a mirage.'
It claimed distributions in Gaza average about 28 trucks a day for a population of about 2.1 million.
Aid distribution has been complicated by a controversial Israeli-backed US-run contractor called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food, according to the UN.
'Aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families,' the letter from the organisations stated.
'With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.
'Each morning, the same question echoes across Gaza: will I eat today?' Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City on Tuesday. / Credit: AP
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Israel had refused the United Nations the space and safety to deliver aid.
'Malnourishment is soaring,' he said on Tuesday.
'Starvation is knocking on every door. Now we are seeing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles.
'Around the world, we see an utter disregard for, if not (an) outright violation of, international law.'
Israel denied deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff as part of its war with Hamas and said it was operating within international law, blaming UN agencies for failing to deliver food it had allowed in.
It accused the NGOs of 'echoing Hamas' propaganda' and said about 4,500 aid trucks had been allowed into Gaza since May, and that more than 700 trucks were waiting to be picked up and distributed by the UN.
Earlier this week, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his counterparts from 24 other nations, including France, Canada and Australia, urged Israel to lift restrictions on the flow of aid into Gaza in a joint statement, condemning the current aid model.
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