International Organizations: A quarter of the population in Gaza is starving

Juliette Touma, the Director of Communications at the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has stressed that the situation in Gaza Strip, which has been under a non-stop Israeli aggression for more than two months, is chilling, pointing out that a quarter of the population there is starving.

Interviewed by BBC on Friday, Touma said “we have reached the point where one can say that a quarter of the people in Gaza are starving, due to the siege and the shortages in basic supplies, including food”.

“The people in Gaza are frightened and extremely tired. They live in fear due to continuous Isareli bombardment”, pointing out that ceasefire is badly needed now for humanitarian reasons and for delivering aid to the strip.

In a relevant context, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) revealed that 80 percent of children in Gaza Strip are suffering from acute food insecurity and that no less than 10,000 children, under the age of 5, are facing severe wasting due to malnutrition and they will need therapeutic foods.

The organization affirmed in a statement published yesterday that this unacceptable danger comes at a time when the food and health systems in Gaza Strip are witnessing a complete collapse.

It clarified that more than two-thirds of hospitals in Gaza Strip are no longer working due to the lack of fuel, water and vital medicines, or because they were exposed to massive damage due to Israeli airstrikes, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza Strip.

Hamda Mustafa