UNICEF says children face ‘growing risk of starvation, illness and death’ as Israel bars food and other aid deliveries.Thousands of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip are facing an increased threat of starvation, the United Nations has warned, as Israel’s continued blockade of food, water and other critical supplies to the besieged and bombarded coastal territory enters its third month.
The UN’s child rights agency (UNICEF) said on Friday that more than 9,000 children had been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition since the start of the year.
But the situation has worsened since Israel imposed a total blockade on the Palestinian enclave in early March.
“For two months, children in the Gaza Strip have faced relentless bombardments while being deprived of essential goods, services and lifesaving care,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
“With each passing day of the aid blockade, they face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death – nothing can justify this.”
Israel has blocked all humanitarian assistance from reaching Palestinians in Gaza since March 2, spurring international condemnation. Advertisement
The UN’s World Food Programme said last week that its food supplies had been “depleted” amid the siege, warning that community kitchens upon which thousands of Palestinians rely would be forced to close.
“We don’t ask if food is nutritious or not, if it’s fresh or good; that’s a luxury, we just want to fill the stomachs of our children,” a displaced Palestinian parent recently told Amnesty International about the crisis. “I don’t want my child to die hungry.”
The Israeli government has said its blockade is intended to put pressure on Palestinian group Hamas to release captives held in Gaza. But it has not led to any more releases since the fleeting ceasefire earlier this year, which saw Palestinian prisoners exchanged for Israeli captives.
Meanwhile, Hamas official Abdel Rahman Shadid on Friday accused Israel of using starvatio …