Death toll from hunger rises to 18
Israeli army accused of deliberately committing massacres against thousands of starving people
Gaza City, Palestine - The Palestinian death toll from hunger in the Gaza Strip has risen to 18 amid a crippling Israeli blockade, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
“Famine in northern Gaza has reached fatal levels, especially for children, pregnant women and patients with chronic diseases,” ministry spokesman Ashraf al-qudra said in a statement.
“Thousands of people are at risk of dying of starvation,” he warned, calling for immediate access to humanitarian and medical assistance to the Palestinian enclave.
The spokesman accused the Israeli army of ‘deliberately committing horrific massacres against thousands of starving people in northern Gaza’.
He appealed to the United Nations to take urgent measures ‘to prevent a humanitarian and health catastrophe in northern Gaza’.
‘Further setbacks’
Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) said though efforts to deliver desperately needed food supplies to northern Gaza resumed on Tuesday, they were ‘largely unsuccessful’. A 14-truck food convoy, the first one by the agency since it paused deliveries to the north on February 20, was turned back by Israeli forces after a three-hour wait at the
Wadi Gaza checkpoint, the WFP said in a statement.
“Although today’s convoy did not make it to the north to provide food to the people who are starving, WFP continues to explore every possible means to do so,” said Carl Skau, WFP’S deputy executive director. Saying that road routes are the only option to transport the large quantities of food needed to avert famine in northern Gaza, it noted that earlier in the day, with the help of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, six tons of WFP food supplies for 20,000 people were dropped in northern Gaza.
“Airdrops are a last resort and will not avert famine. We need entry points to northern Gaza that will allow us to deliver enough food for half a million people in desperate need,” said Skau
According to the UN, hunger has reached ‘catastrophic levels’ in northern Gaza, where children are dying of hunger-related diseases and suffering severe levels of malnutrition.
Blinken seeks ‘urgent steps’
In Washington, on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held ‘frank’ discussions with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz about the situation in Gaza and urged Israel to take ‘urgent steps’ to expand the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid, including by opening additional crossings.
“We want to see another crossing open, and it’s something we’re engaged with quite directly with the Israeli government, and that includes in the conversation that the Secretary had with Minister Gantz today,” said State Department spokesman Mathew Miller.
He said Blinken was ‘quite direct and quite frank about the seriousness of the situation on the ground and the fact that it is incumbent on everyone involved to do more to get aid in urgently, as soon as possible’.
Miller said Blinken underscored the importance of reaching an agreement to achieve the release of Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian group Hamas, which would lead to a temporary cease-fire and allow additional humanitarian assistance to enter Gaza.
“The Secretary emphasised that even as talks to reach such an agreement proceed, Israel must take urgent steps to expand the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid, including by opening additional crossings,” he said.
Famine in northern Gaza has reached fatal levels, especially for children, pregnant women and patients with chronic diseases
ASHRF AL QUDRA