Wounded Palestinians lie on beds and the floor at Kamal Adwan Hospital after Israeli forces withdrew, in Jabalia in northern Gaza. October 26, 2024 [Stringer/Reuters]
Gaza City, October 27 (RHC)-- An Oxfam official told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Israel is using starvation as a weapon in its genocide against the Palestinians and that the United Kingdom-based NGO was unable to reach people in the north because of Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign.
Mahmoud Alsaqqa, who is Oxfam’s food security and livelihood lead in Gaza, warned that some Palestinians are “starving to death” from hunger in northern Gaza and more people will die in the coming days. “There is nothing. You are talking about dozens of days that they are not receiving any supplies,” he said, adding that most Palestinians in the area rely on aid supplies.
The struggle to survive continues in northern Gaza as Israel’s devastating siege and bombing of the area enters its 23rd day.
Aid agencies say about 96 percent of Gaza’s population is facing high levels of food shortages. According to UNICEF, nine out of 10 children lack the nutrition they need for growth and development. At least 37 children have died of malnutrition or dehydration in a year of war.
The United Nations says Israel has blocked the entry of 83 percent of food aid into the Strip since the war began. It said about 50,000 children below the age of five need urgent treatment for malnutrition by the end of the year.
The Oxfam warning came as Israeli forces bombed more neighbourhoods in northern Gaza on Sunday and humanitarian officials sounded alarm about the ongoing ground assault by Israeli forces which is forcibly displacing tens of thousands of residents out of the area.
At least 35 people were killed in Beit Lahiya on Saturday after the Israeli army targeted five buildings in the north of the Strip. Another 10 people were killed in a separate attack in Beit Lahiya.
Israel’s strikes on the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza have so far killed about 800 Palestinians during the ongoing siege, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said at least 35 people are missing and are feared to be under the rubble, or have been “vapourised” by the force of the Israeli bombs.
Additionally, an Israeli air strike on a house in Jabalia killed several people and wounded others on Sunday morning, Palestinian medics said. “People were told to evacuate the Jabalia refugee camp in order to avoid being bombed, but by the time they got to areas far from Jabalia in the central and western parts of northern Gaza, they were bombed and maimed in the areas they were told to evacuate to,” said Mahmoud.
“The Israeli soldiers are forcing people to get out of evacuation centers and setting them on fire,” she added.
