No aid has been provided to Gaza since March 2, as Israeli wars on the enclave continue to rage.
At least 60,000 children in the Gaza Strip are at risk of serious health subsidies due to malnutrition, as food is declining amid Israeli aid.
The ministry statement came on Wednesday a day after UN chief Antonio Guterres rejected a new Israeli proposal to control the delivery of aid in Gaza.
The Ministry of Health warned that “the lack of proper nutrition and drinking water will exacerbate health challenges and will continue to ban vaccinations of children, particularly polio vaccinations.”
Aid has not been delivered to the 2.3 million enclaves since March 2, as Israel continues to seal off essential border crossings, with the exception of all intrusions, from food to medical supplies and fuel.
This forces the closure of 21 nutrition centres, and according to the United Nations, it has already been severely malnourished and disrupted the care of around 350 children.
Last month, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are at risk of severe hunger and malnutrition as Israel’s expansion of military operations significantly disrupt food aid operations.
“WFP and partners in the Food Security division were unable to bring new food supplies to Gaza for more than three weeks,” the organization said in a statement, adding that the remaining food stocks will support operations for up to two weeks.
Israel has repeatedly used food and international humanitarian aid as tools of collective pressure on Palestinians over 18 months since the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, according to the Ministry of Health.
“All the basic supplies are gone,” said Juliette Touma of Unrwa, the United Nations agency for Palestinian Aid. “It means babies, kids are going to sleep hungry. Every day without these basic supplies, Gaza approaches very deep hunger.”
Cogat, an Israeli military force responsible for civil issues in the occupied Palestinian territory, also met with representatives from UN agencies and international aid groups last week to propose a “structured surveillance and aid invasion mechanism” for Gaza, claiming that aid was decoupled from civilians by Hamas.
However, Jonathan Whitthal, a senior UN aid official in the Gaza and occupied West Bank, said last week there was no evidence that aid was being diverted.
The military last week stopped the flow of water from Israeli company Mekorot to the Gaza Strip, effectively blocking 70% of the total water supply in the Palestinian enclave.
Gaza Municipal spokesman Hosni Mehanna said the cut would affect a major pipeline in Gaza city’s Shujaia district, where Israeli forces have been in military attacks since Thursday.
“The reason behind the suspension remains unknown, but we are coordinating with international organizations to see if the pipeline has been damaged by heavy Israeli artillery fire in the region,” Mehanna said.
“Regardless of the cause, the outcome is disastrous. If water flow from Mekoroto doesn’t recover soon, Gaza will face a full-scale water crisis,” he said.
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