At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza as Israel’s punishing blockade of food, water, and other critical aid to the besieged enclave stretches into its third month amid relentless bombardment.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Saturday that most of the victims were children, as well as the sick and elderly, condemning the “continued use of food by the Israeli occupation as a weapon of war” and urging the international community to exert pressure on Israel to reopen the borders and allow in aid.
Gaza has been under total Israeli blockade since March 2, video obtained by media Arabic showing large numbers of trucks carrying vital supplies piling up on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Saturday, the queue extending south beyond the city of Arish, located approximately 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Rafah border crossing.
media’s team identified one of the latest victims on Saturday, a baby girl called Janan Saleh al-Sakafi, who died of malnutrition and dehydration in the Rantisi Hospital, west of Gaza City. More than 9,000 children have been admitted to hospital for treatment for acute malnutrition since the start of the year, according to the United Nations.
Reporting from Gaza City, media’s Hani Mahmoud said he had witnessed heartbreaking scenes of children rifling through rubbish, “looking for whatever is left of canned food products”. The enclave, he added, had reached a “critical” point with international organisations out of supplies and community kitchens unable to prepare meals for displaced people.
“Finding a single meal has become an impossible quest,” Ahmad al-Najjar, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, told media. “People here have witnessed one charity after another declaring they’re out of supplies, that they’re shutting down their operations because they’re in no position to … offer the population the needed relief.”
“It’s frustrating and infuriating to have trucks piling up on the other side of the fence be denied entrance while the people, even children, are in dire conditions.”
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