Over 70% of Gazans face extreme hunger as Israel’s war grinds on
NEARLY 71% of Gazans are facing extreme hunger as they continue to suffer under relentless Israeli attacks, according to a study by the rights group EuroMed Monitor.
Released Tuesday, the study’s findings included a sample of 1,200 people in Gaza where 98% of the respondents said they eat insufficient amounts of food.
Meanwhile, 64% admitted to eating grass, fruits, immature food and expired materials to satiate their hunger.
The study also found that the rate of access to water in Gaza, including drinking, bathing and cleaning water, is down to 1.5 liters per person per day.
“This is 15 liters less than the minimum amount of water required for survival at the level required by international standards,” it stressed.
It added that 66% of the respondents reported having experienced diarrhea, skin rashes or intestinal diseases in the past month.
Earlier on Dec. 14, U.N. officials and aid workers had warned that the residents of Gaza were facing a “perfect storm’ of deadly diseases.
From Nov. 29 to Dec. 10, the cases of diarrhea in children under 5 jumped 66% to 59,895 cases, and climbed 55% for the rest of the population in the same period, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Israel’s air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 have killed at least 19,667 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 52,586, according to health authorities in the enclave.
The war has left Gaza in ruins, with half of the coastal territory’s housing stock damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced within the densely populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.
“The perfect storm for disease has begun. Now it’s about, ‘How bad will it get?’” James Elder, chief spokesperson for the U.N. children’s fund (UNICEF), had said in an interview.