The World Health Organization announced the registration of 10 children who “died of hunger” in the Gaza Strip, indicating expectations that the actual number of deaths due to food shortages is higher.
According to Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for the organization, “official records indicate the registration of a tenth child officially declared dead from hunger” on Friday.
Lindmeier added, “It is regrettable that unofficial figures are expected to be higher.”
This development follows overnight media reports of the deaths of 4 children at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, in addition to 6 others who died on Wednesday at the same hospital and at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The spokesperson stated that Gaza residents are risking their lives to obtain food, water, and other necessities amidst hunger and despair amid ongoing Israeli attacks.
He continued, “The system in Gaza is on the verge of collapse, if not worse. All the lifelines in Gaza have been cut in one way or another.”
Lindmeier said this has created a “dire situation,” as happened on Thursday when more than 100 people were killed while seeking humanitarian aid.
Health authorities in Gaza say Israeli forces fired at Palestinians while they were waiting to receive aid, while Israel claims the incident resulted from crowds pushing and shoving around aid trucks.
“People are in desperate need of food and clean water. Any supplies. To the point that they risk their lives to get any food or supplies to support their children and sustain themselves,” Lindmeier said.
While aid reaches southern areas of the Gaza Strip, it is extremely slow to the point that it may not be sufficient to avoid a hunger crisis there.
And hardly any aid reaches the remote northern areas away from the main border crossing, which can only be accessed through increasingly intense frontlines.
“Food supplies are deliberately halted. Let’s not forget that,” Lindmeier said.
A senior aid official at the United Nations told the Security Council on Tuesday that a quarter of Gaza’s population is just one step away from famine, and that a widespread famine could be “almost inevitable” unless action is taken.
