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Rania Abu Anza cradles her twins, who were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 3, 2024. Abu Anza and her husband, who was killed in the same strike, spent 10 years trying to get pregnant. (Photo: AP)
United Nations, March 12 (RHC)-- A UNICEF spokesperson has urged an end to the war on Gaza in hope of stopping the "nightmare" of the Palestinians in the besieged territory. James Elder expressed his concern over the dire situation faced by the children of Gaza, saying no "suitable words" can describe the tragedy children are contending with.
Elder emphasized the Gaza children have suffered the most from war, hunger, and malnutrition in the Gaza Strip. At least 20 people, most of them children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza over the past days.
Ashraf al-Qadara, spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health, has said the number of reported deaths only belongs to the victims who lost their lives in hospitals, but it is believed that tens of other people are dying silently due to hunger, without being transferred to hospitals.
Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, had previously highlighted the dire situation faced by the children in Gaza, emphasizing that Palestinian children are on the "verge of death." In her social media account on X platform, Russell stated that one in six children under age two are acutely malnourished.
Humanitarian officials have issued a dire warning, stating that unless a ceasefire is implemented and aid is significantly increased, the toll of malnutrition and disease is expected to rise, leading to an alarming loss of lives.
The Gaza Health Ministry has reported that the ongoing war has already claimed the lives of over 31,000 individuals. It said that over 2 million displaced individuals across 100 regions are also struggling to find enough food to eat. Israel has blocked the entry of food and aid supplies into Gaza, draining its limited health services.
The head of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, said last month the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip is a “man-made disaster,” and called for urgent steps to deliver aid to the besieged territory.
Philippe Lazzarini added that the agency’s “calls to send food aid have been denied and have fallen on deaf ears.”
Israel is using hunger and starvation as a weapon against the people of Gaza, and there seems to be no pressure on the occupying regime to end its genocidal war. The Tel Aviv regime is pressing ahead with its genocide campaign in Gaza with total impunity and the green light of the United States and its allies amid the silence of the international community.