Children in Gaza City have appealed to the global community to do something to alleviate their dire situation, as the UN’s World Food Programme announces a suspension of aid deliveries to the northern part of the besieged enclave.
Scores of children in Gaza City in the northern part of the besieged Gaza Strip have taken to the streets in protest at the lack of water, food, and other basic necessities.
Holding banners and banging on empty pots, the children raised their voices as they marched on Tuesday.
“No food. No water. No medicine. Our message to the world: Shame on You,” banners read.
Despite the ICJ ruling in January ordering Israel to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and aid in Gaza, the humanitarian situation in the enclave has deteriorated.
This is due to Israel’s denial of aid trucks as well as recent news that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is suspending food aid to the north.
“We die from hunger, we have nothing to eat, we are forced to eat animal food,” Ayat Ashour, aged 10, told the Anadolu news agency.
“Food has become unaffordable, we want to live, we want (food) aid. … The people in the northern Gaza Strip find nothing to eat, there is no milk for children,” she added.
Another child, Omar Al-Shenbari, 14, said: “We are marching to raise our voice to the world that we want flour to eat, there is no food or water (in Gaza City).”
“We Want Flour.”
Palestinian children protest demanding an end to famine inflicted on the north of #Gaza. #gazastarving pic.twitter.com/F1I0DJkTQi
— Al-Jarmaq News (@Aljarmaqnetnews) February 21, 2024
“We eat one insufficient meal a day, mainly consisting of water and (tomato) paste,” Omar added. “We are experiencing difficult situations. The Arab countries and the entire world must stand with us,” he said.
The WFP said on Tuesday it is “pausing deliveries of life-saving food aid to Northern Gaza until safe conditions are in place for our staff and the people we are trying to reach.”
WFP Decision Condemned
The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, condemned the decision saying it “is a serious development that will double the humanitarian suffering” of Palestinians in the north “under the suffocating siege” of the Israeli army.
Hamas called on the WFP and all UN agencies, including UNRWA, “to pressure the occupation, by announcing the resumption of operations in the north” in accordance with “their international mandates to rescue our people from the increasingly serious threat of famine, committed to their legal and humanitarian responsibilities.”
Gaza’s Government Media Office also demanded the WFP immediately rescind its “disastrous” decision, saying it amounts “to a death sentence for 750,000 people, exacerbating the humanitarian situation.”
‘Clock is Ticking towards Looming Famine’ in Gaza – UNRWA Reacts to US, Western Sanctions
“We demand the World Food Programme immediately retract its disastrous decision to suspend the delivery of food aid and hold the United Nations and the international community responsible,” the media office said in a statement late on Tuesday.
The suspension of aid to the north is exacerbated by a significant decrease in the number of aid trucks entering all of Gaza.
According to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, “51 percent” of missions planned by the body and its humanitarian partners “to deliver aid and undertake assessments to areas in north Gaza this year were denied access by Israeli authorities.”
“Food insecurity north of Wadi Gaza has reached an extremely critical state,” UNRWA said in a post on X.
🛑 51% of missions planned by @UNRWA and humanitarian partners to deliver aid and undertake assessments to areas in north📍#Gaza this year were denied access by Israeli authorities.
Food insecurity north of Wadi Gaza has reached an extremely critical state #AccessDenied pic.twitter.com/YeKsZpKh4E
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) February 20, 2024
Surge in Malnutrition
On Monday, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the scarcity of food and safe water in Gaza is compromising women’s and children’s nutrition and immunity, resulting in a surge of acute malnutrition.
Citing a comprehensive new analysis released by the Global Nutrition Cluster, UNICEF said that as the ongoing conflict in Gaza enters its 20th week, food and safe water have become incredibly scarce and diseases are rife.
This is “compromising women and children’s nutrition and immunity and resulting in a surge of acute malnutrition,” UNICEF said in a statement.
Rising Malnutrition Threatens Children’s Lives in Gaza – UNICEF
“Nutrition screenings conducted at shelters and health centers in the north found that 15.6 percent – or 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age – are acutely malnourished,” the statement said.
Of these, almost 3 percent suffer from “severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition,” which puts young children at the highest risk of medical complications and death unless they receive urgent treatment.
(PC, Anadolu)
Our hearts are with you people of North Gaza on these pleas for food, water and other basic necessities. UN bodies responsible on these should do something to attend to this very urgent request.