Approximately 95% of the aid groups have halted or reduced services due to Israeli bombing and lockdowns.
Due to the complete siege and fire of Israel’s Gaza Strip, Palestinian children survived with less than one meal a day.
Gaza’s humanitarian aid system is “facing a complete collapse” due to 18 months of Israeli military operations and the recent imposition of a complete blockade last month, the joint statement said Thursday.
An estimated 95% of the 43 international and Palestinian aid groups have already stopped or cut in Gaza, saying “it is extremely dangerous to move around, with widespread and indiscriminate bombings.”
“The kids don’t eat meals in a day and they have a hard time finding their next meal,” said Busila Khalil, policy director for Oxfam, aid group. “Everyone is eating purely canned food… Pockets of malnutrition and hunger are definitely happening in Gaza.”
Gaza emergency coordinator Amande Bazerole, an emergency coordinator for doctors without borders, added that aid workers are forced to suffer and die while many women and children carry the “impossible burden of providing relief with depleted supplies.”
“This is not a humanitarian failure. It is a political choice, a deliberate attack on the ability of people to survive, carried out with immunity,” she said.
In Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported on Friday that the enclave runs out of baby formula, leaving children and infants malnourished.
“We’ve seen many cases of severe malnutrition. Families can’t provide the most basic needs for the most vulnerable children and newborns. Baby formulas are largely lacking in the market and in the pharmacy,” says Mahmoud. “Gaza is quickly running out of all its essentials.”
The Palestinian told Al Jazeera that she was losing her child to malnutrition outside the Al Aqsa hospital in Deia El Bala.
Fadi Ahmed, who lost his son, said hospital staff had discovered that “they were suffering from a severe lack of oxygen in their blood as they discovered a massive infection in the boy’s lungs.”
“The boy’s weakness and severe malnutrition made him unable to resist after a week in the hospital and then to resist death.”
Grandmother Intisar Hamdan said he lost his grandson because his parents were unable to find milk for three days.
“Children suffer not only from malnutrition, but also from serious medical complications and illnesses that are not easily treated and require rare medical supplies,” reported Tareq Abu Azzoum of Al Jazeera.
At least 60,000 children are considered malnourished on Palestinian territory, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The aid group said Gaza holds a record that it is “the deadliest place on the planet for humanitarian workers,” and it is even more difficult to serve children.
Since October 2023, more than 400 aid workers and 1,300 health workers have been killed in Gaza despite requirements under international humanitarian law to protect humanitarian and health workers.
“Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescuers have recently been killed. The bodies were buried in mass graves, causing global rage, but many violations and attacks have not been reported,” he added.
The aid groups are calling on armed Israeli and Palestinian groups to ensure the safety of their staff, grant “free access to aid to Gaza and the whole of Gaza,” and to oppose further aid restrictions.
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