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Gaza gov’t says 3,500 children at risk of dying
The declaration highlighted the immediate threat of famine, particularly to Palestinian children, with approximately 3,500 at risk of death due to severe malnutrition and lack of medical supplies.
The media office emphasized the widespread suffering across Gaza, exacerbated by a 40-day total closure of crossings leading to severe shortages in local markets.
It described the blockade as a deliberate policy targeting vulnerable groups, including children and patients, denying them essential food, medicine, nutritional supplements, and vaccinations crucial for survival.
Urging swift intervention, the Gazan government demanded the immediate reopening of Rafah and Karam Abu Salem crossings to facilitate the entry of critical aid.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva he was “appalled by the disregard for international human rights” and “unconscionable death and suffering”.
The United Nations has said aid access to Gaza has been severely hindered by factors including insecurity, the closing of crossing points to the territory, and Israeli procedural delays.
Since the start of Israeli military operations around Rafah in early May, when the vital crossing was seized and closed, “aid delivery and humanitarian access deteriorated further,” Turk said.
Hamas demanded the opening of both the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings, the group said in a statement accusing Israel and its close ally the United States of the “crime of preventing the entry of aid and food as a tool for political pressure”.
Displaced Palestinian Ali Hassan, sheltering in a tent in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, told AFP “Eid al-Adha this year is not like previous holidays.”
“There is no meat or sacrificial animals, we don’t even have clothes for the children,” he said.