According to the UN, over 100 people, mostly children, have allegedly perished from starvation in Gaza City, and a fifth of the city’s children suffer from malnutrition.
People in Gaza, where Israel controls the distribution and delivery of aid, “are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses,” according to Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), who made this statement on Thursday, citing a colleague.
“Emaciated, weak, and at high risk of dying if they don’t get the treatment they urgently need” describes the majority of the children the service meets.
“This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave,” said Lazzirini.
The health professionals on the front lines of UNRWA are getting by on “one small meal a day, often just lentils, if at all.” Their hunger-related faintings at work are getting worse.
“When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing.”
The warning comes as news organizations have urged Israel to permit journalists to enter and exit Gaza without restriction because of concerns that they may starve.
In a statement released on Thursday, Reuters, Associated Press, BBC News, and Agence France Press expressed their “desperate concern for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families.”
Near Rafah, Palestinians congregate to pick up charity supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
“These independent journalists have been the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza for many months,” they stated. Now, they are in the same terrible situation as the people they are covering.
“In conflict areas, journalists face numerous challenges and deprivations. The fact that the fear of famine is now one of them greatly alarms us.
“We implore the Israeli government to let journalists to enter and exit Gaza. The people there must have access to enough food supplies.
David Mencer, a spokesman for the Israeli government, told Sky News that there “is no famine in Gaza” and that food shortages have “been engineered by Hamas.”
