WHO confirms children are ‘dying of starvation’ in Gaza
Children have starved to death in the besieged Gaza Strip, where people are eating leaves and animal food in a desperate attempt to stay alive.
Life-saving aid to the enclave continues to be delayed by stalled ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Thousands of families are struggling to find food.
Ten children died at Kamal Adwan hospital in the north of Gaza, it was confirmed by the United Nations for the first time yesterday.
World Health Organisation (WHO) officials found “children dying of starvation” in both Kamal Adwan and al Awda hospitals.
“Grim findings . . . severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed,” Tedros Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director general, said yesterday after the organisation’s first visit to the north of Gaza since the start of the war.
He confirmed that “lack of food” had resulted in the deaths of 10 children at Kamal Adwan hospital.
Yazan Al Kafarneh, 10, was filmed by journalists at the hospital a few days before his death, looking emaciated and barely able to speak. Gaza’s health ministry later said 15 children had died from malnutrition and dehydration at the hospital.
Diala Abu Sultan is 6 months old and is displaying severe signs of malnutrition and skeletal fragility. Her parents have been unable to find or afford milk so they have been giving Diala water which is likely contaminated.
“I cannot bear to see my child crying day and night due to extreme hunger and colic,” her mother Diana said yesterday. “Her bones have become visible, and she refuses to eat anything.”
Doctors say the infant needs vitamins, nutrients and prescription medication, but none can be found.
Much of the aid waiting to get to the Strip is dependent on a ceasefire being negotiated between Israel and Hamas. However Israel is refusing to hold negotiations until the terrorist group reveals how many of the hostages it took in the October 7 attacks are still alive. Hamas claims it does not know the location and condition of all captives, thought to number more than 100.
In the meantime aid trucks that manage to get into Gaza have been looted by desperate people, while Israel continues to bombard the region.
Like thousands of people in Gaza, Diala’s family subsisted for weeks on animal food but that is running out too. “We’ve even turned to eating plant leaves to stave off hunger, but Diala, being so young, cannot digest such sustenance,” said Muhammad, the girl’s 40-year-old father.