Palestinian medical sources said that a Palestinian boy, Ahmed Hijazi died due to malnutrition and famine in the northern Gaza Strip, where international organizations have not been able to deliver aid for more than a week.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Health announced the death of 13 children due to famine and malnutrition in the same region.
Palestinian journalist Hassan Islah documented on his Instagram account on Friday morning the testimony of a Palestinian child talking about their suffering due to the starvation imposed by the Israeli siege on northern Gaza.
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The scenes showed the condition of the child and his family in light of the interruption of food and food. “We used to eat animal food. We slept hungry, and we used to stay three days (at a time) without eating.”
The displaced Palestinians inside the shelters in the northern Gaza Strip also live difficult lives as Israel does not allow food to enter the area, and often opens fire at aid trucks.
Early Thursday, Israeli forces shelled a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid south of Gaza City at the ‘Al-Nabulsi Roundabout’ area, leaving at least 112 Palestinians dead and nearly 800 injured, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.
“The desperate situation inside the shelters is beyond cruel, with overflowing sewage in the schoolyard, accumulation of dirt and waste and the appalling spread of disease among displaced people, especially children,” Al-Jazeera reported.
At any street corner and there are flimsy shelters for #Gaza’s displaced here in Rafah. No garbage collection, no sewage, lack of food and water. Aid trucks are stuck next door in Israel and Egypt. The desperation is growing. Only hope is a ceasefire and an end to this nightmare pic.twitter.com/eQMfngZoa9
— Jan Egeland (@NRC_Egeland) February 29, 2024
“Displaced people are suffering from extremely difficult humanitarian conditions, due to severe shortages of food and water, which make them vulnerable to diseases and worsening food shortages,” it added.
This dire situation has forced residents of the northern Gaza Strip to search for any food that could be eaten, some even grinding livestock and poultry feed to eat, while others search agricultural land for the leaves that the land grows to satisfy their hunger.
In the south and center of the Gaza Strip, residents face great hardship in providing foodstuffs, due to their shortage and the high prices amid soaring poverty.
PALESTINIAN MEDICAL SOURCES: The child Ahmed Hijazi died due to malnutrition and starvation in the northern Gaza Strip.
FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG:https://t.co/H416KwCwDx pic.twitter.com/Y7vzeulYEu
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) March 1, 2024
Once more, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres sounded alarm bells when he said that international organizations had not been able to deliver aid for more than a week to the northern Gaza Strip.
Guterres said in a tweet that desperate civilians in Gaza needed urgent help, including residents of the northern Gaza Strip.
I condemn Thursday’s incident in Gaza in which more than 100 people were reportedly killed or injured while seeking life-saving aid.
The desperate civilians in Gaza need urgent help, including those in the north where the @UN has not been able to deliver aid in more than a week.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 1, 2024
Death Toll Rises
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 30,035 Palestinians have been killed, and 70,457 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(The Palestine Chronicle)
