The authoritative Palestinian health minister said 29 children and elderly people have died of hunger in Gaza in the past two days.
The warning is issued as Israel begins to allow limited goods to be allowed after global pressure to lift the lockdown and stop a newly expanded offensive, with food aid expected to arrive in Palestinians in Gaza this week.
Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said Thursday that about 90 trucks, nearly 200, carrying medicines, wheat flour and nutritional supplies, have entered Gaza. Lak said aid groups face huge challenges due to insecurity, risks of robbery and coordination with Israeli authorities.
However, Palestinian Red Crescent said on Thursday that Palestinians in Gaza have not yet received aid delivery across the border, and sending so few trucks is an “invitation” to “kill” because of the risk of theft.
“I can prove that no one has received it [aid]. No civilians have received anything yet. In fact, it is said that most of these trucks are still in Kerem Shalom at the border, but there is no inspection, but no entry into Gaza.
“It's hard to hide robberies that are in a hurry or can happen,” he added.
Malnutrition is spreading to Gaza, and medical staff and aid workers in the destructive Palestinian territory have been warned for months that bakeries closed by the United Nations World Food Programme have hindered aid distribution due to lack of cooking gas and limited food volumes in stores and markets due to lack of cooking gas and limited prices.
“We have lost 29 children in the past few days,” Majed Abu Ramadan, the authoritative Palestinian health minister based in the West Bank, told reporters. Later, he clarified that the total included the elderly and children.
Palestinian authorities have partially controlled the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967, but Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Earlier this month, IPC estimated that nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are expected to have “acute malnutrition” and 14,100 severe cases are expected in the next 11 months.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies in March, saying Hamas caught the delivery of its fighters – an allegation the group denied. Earlier this month, Global Hunger Monitor said 500,000 people in the Gaza Strip face hunger.
From 2005 to 2008, Abu Ramadan, the mayor of Gaza, said only seven or eight of the 36 hospitals in Gaza were partly functioning, and more than 90% of the medical stocks are now at zero due to the lockdown.
“My message is that very few cargo goes into the interior of Gaza – 90 to 100 trucks loaded as well as the southern and central zones.” When asked if there were medical supplies in the middle, he said: “It’s the flour from the bakery as far as I know.”
UN agencies said the amount of aid entering Gaza is far from the assistance needed to alleviate the crisis.
Umm Talal Al-Masri, 53, is a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, described the situation as “unbearable”.
“I feel tormented for the children,” said Hossam Abu Aida, 38, who told AFP: “For them, I'm more afraid of hunger and disease than the Israeli bombing.”
AFP video shows the recently delivered flour bags at a bakery in the central city of Deir El-Balah, where workers and many machines start kneading, shaping, baking and packaging stacks after a pile of pita bread.
UNICEF, a UNICEF, a UN child aid organization, said more than 9,000 children were treated this year in Gaza, while food security experts say there are thousands of cases expected in the coming year.
Experts also warned that if Israel does not stop military movements and lift the blockade completely, the territory could fall into famine, but the World Health Organization said last week that people had starved to death.
The new data shared with the hope of the U.S.-based project is focused on health care, one of the few humanitarian organizations that still operate health clinics in Gaza, found a sharp surge in children’s malnutrition, pregnant and breastfeeding women amid the nearly three-month AIDS lockdown, with some of which were reported as 42% of clinics and diagnosed with 42% of women and 34% of MALN diagnosis.
Hope “children are also increasingly affected.” “Our team reports on the basis that more families rely on our clinic for nutritional supplements, while children visiting the project hope that the clinic only consumes high-energy cookies and ready-made therapeutic foods, which are short-term survival needs provided by malnutrition patients, rather than continuous nutrition.”
“The number of malnutrition cases has soared. Two months ago, there were no more than 50 cases a day in malnutrition. Now, we see about 200 cases a day. Many of the kids we see don't see real food and don't eat real food in a few weeks – only nutritious biScuits we'll get easier and we'll get easier. I'm worried about their future, no more food and aid.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli military urged civilians to evacuate the smoke, adding smoke to the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
Gaza civil defense agency said 52 martyrs and dozens of people were injured throughout the territory on Thursday due to the occupied air strikes.
Strengthening Israel's offense has sparked criticism, with the EU's foreign minister on Tuesday agreeing to review the group cooperation with Israel.
