UNICEF says children are facing “an increased risk of hunger, illness and death” just as Israel prevents food and other aid.
Thousands of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip are facing an increasing threat of hunger, the UN warns.
The United Nations Office for Children’s Rights (UNICEF) said on Friday that more than 9,000 children have been approved for treatment of acute malnutrition since the beginning of the year.
However, things have worsened since Israel imposed a complete blockade on the Palestinian enclave in early March.
“For two months, children in the Gaza Strip have faced relentless fire while being deprived of essential goods, services and life-saving care,” UNICEF executive director Katherine Russell said in a statement.
“After the day of aid lockdown, they face an increased risk of starvation, illness and death. This cannot be justified.”
Israel has blocked all humanitarian aid and urged international condemnation since March 2nd, reaching the Palestinians in Gaza.
The United Nations World Food Program last week said its food supply was “depleted” amid the siege, warning that kitchens in communities where thousands of Palestinians rely on would be forced to close.
“We don’t ask if the food is nutritious. Whether it’s fresh or good. It’s a luxury. We just want to fill the stomachs of our children,” the evacuated Palestinian parent recently told Amnesty International about the crisis. “I don’t want my child to die of hunger.”
The Israeli government said the lockdown was intended to pressure Palestinian group Hamas to release prisoners of war held in Gaza. But it has not led to any further releases since the ceasefire began earlier this year, when Palestinian prisoners saw exchanges with Israeli prisoners.
Meanwhile, Hamas official Abdel Rahman Shadid accused Israel of using hunger as a “deliberate weapon of war” against the Palestinians on Friday.
“Children are dying from not only bombs but lack of milk,” Shadid said in a statement posted on the group’s telegram channel.
Legal experts and human rights groups point out that as an occupation right, Israel has an obligation under international law to provide food and other assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
They condemned the blockade for breaching the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians of all ages have experienced high levels of food insecurity in Gaza, according to Global Hunger Watchdog, an integrated food security stage classification (IPC) system.
Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOS network, told Al Jazeera that the situation is rapidly getting worse as health facilities lack the supplies needed to treat children who are working on malnutrition.
“There is no food, no supplementary ingredients or medicine for these children,” Shawa told Al Jazeera in Gaza City. “There is a growing concern that we will witness more casualties over the next few days,” he added.
At Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Rahiya, northern Gaza, Dr Ahmed Abu Nasir said the lockdown has made the situation worse than ever before.
“Children are in the growing stage and need certain nutrients, including protein and fats,” the pediatrician told Al Jazeera. “These are not available in the Gaza Strip, particularly in the northern part of the country.”
More than 52,400 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s Israeli war with Gaza began in October 2023, according to figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health.
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