The United Nations health agency stated that more than 30,000 children under the age of 5 are suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza while the World Health Organisation has reported that at least 21 children under 5 have died so far this year.
More than 100 charity and human rights groups on Wednesday also claimed that Israel's blockade and ongoing military offensive are pushing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip toward starvation, as Israeli strikes killed another 29 people overnight, according to local health officials.
The head of the World Health Organisation said Gaza is “witnessing a deadly surge” in malnutrition and related diseases, and that a “large proportion” of its roughly 2 million people are starving.
Israel on the other hand said that it allows enough aid into the territory and faults delivery efforts by UN agencies, which say they are "hindered by Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of security".
Gaza Children Dying Of Starvation
The UN health agency's representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, said there were more than 30,000 children under 5 with acute malnutrition in Gaza and that the WHO had reported that at least 21 children under 5 have died so far this year.
WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that acute malnutrition centers in Gaza are full of patients and lack adequate supplies. He said rates of acute malnutrition exceed 10 per cent and that among pregnant and breastfeeding women, more than 20 per cent are malnourished, often severely.
In an open letter, 115 organizations, including major international aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corps and Save the Children, said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, “waste away.”
The letter, according to Associated Press, blamed Israeli restrictions and “massacres” at aid-distribution points. Witnesses, health officials and the U.N. human rights office say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on crowds seeking aid, killing more than 1,000 people. Israel says its forces have only fired warning shots and that the death toll is exaggerated.
The Israeli government's “restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,” the letter said.
Experts have reportedly estimated that Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel’s blockade and the offensive launched in response to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack.
Overnight strikes kill at least 29
Israel has continued to carry out waves of daily airstrikes against what it says are militant targets but which often kill women and children. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas.
One of the overnight strikes hit a house in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The dead included six children and two women, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it struck an Islamic Jihad militant, and that the incident was under review because of reports of civilian casualties.
Shifa said another strike late Tuesday in Gaza City killed three children.
A strike on an apartment in northern Gaza killed at least six people. Among the dead were three children and two women, including one who was pregnant, the ministry said. The military said it struck a Hamas operative.
In central Gaza, a strike in a densely populated part of the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp killed eight people and wounded 57, according to Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.
Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attack and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, was set to meet with a senior Israeli official about ceasefire talks, a sign that lower-level negotiations that have dragged on for weeks could be approaching a breakthrough.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 50 hostages it holds, around 20 of them believed to be alive, in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel has vowed to recover all the captives and continue the war until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed.
(With AP inputs)
