Children lie dying in their thousands as the world’s leaders sit on their hands

Population is starving to death as famine is imminent in Gaza

THE world has had months of warning: denying people in Gaza access to food would have deadly consequences, starving an entire population. Now, inevitably, famine is imminent. It could threaten the lives of thousands of men, women and most acutely, children, in the region.

This is entirely man-made, entirely avoidable.

For the past five months we have all looked on in horror as Israeli bombs and snipers killed an average 250 people a day, 70% of them women and children. But now starvation and hunger threaten to take many more lives,

‘One in six children is acutely malnourished’

with warnings that parts of Gaza are on the verge of famine.

We are getting heartbreaking daily reports from our team in the occupied Palestinian territory, and our partner organisations, of the increasing hunger crisis facing an already beleaguered population.

Children have already started to die of starvation in northern Gaza, where 300,000 people live in dire conditions, almost completely cut off from aid. The situation is unprecedented and utterly terrifying. And preventable.

Aid is being blocked or restricted and most of the food production system in Gaza is either damaged or destroyed due to the war.

Fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products have almost completely disappeared from the population’s daily diets, leaving everybody in Gaza dependent on food aid.

But virtually no food aid has reached the north of Gaza in several weeks, with the Israeli military preventing many aid missions from taking place. The World Food Programme has suspended its aid deliveries to the north amid reports of aid convoys coming under fire.

The toll is greatest on children. Gaza is currently seeing the worst level of child malnutrition anywhere in the world. One in six children in the north of Gaza is acutely malnourished, and 3% of these are suffering from severe wasting – the most serious and deadly kind of malnutrition.

For months, organisations have been sounding the alarm that famine is on the way in Gaza. It is now on the doorstep and the situation could not be more critical now.

It is still possible to stop this crisis from escalating any further, but it will require mass, unfettered access for humanitarian aid – and an immediate and permanent ceasefire so that the aid can be delivered safely.

As the death toll from Israel’s military campaign approaches the appalling figure of 30,000, we know for certain that even more men, women and children will die of hunger and malnutrition unless urgent efforts to stop this food crisis in its tracks are made.

This is the moment when world leaders need to do so much more than they have done to date. The urgency is now.

‘It is possible to stop this crisis escalating’

ActionAid is supporting five partners in Gaza, particularly focused on supporting children and pregnant women. To donate visit Actionaid.ie.