Gaza (Union)
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said yesterday that the suffering of children in the Gaza Strip from the war continues “in an unimaginable way.”
The agency added, “No child should face such horrific conditions. The shooting must stop now.”
She pointed out that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that 9 out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip suffer from severe food poverty, and Oxfam also reported that many of them spend entire days without food.
In a related context, Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, northern Gaza Strip, said yesterday that 50 Palestinian children suffering from malnutrition were registered in just one week.
Abu Safiya said in a statement: “About 50 Palestinian children suffering from malnutrition were counted in just one week.” He added, “The health system in Gaza is a target of the Israeli occupation, but we are trying to resume medical services at a minimum, in light of the fuel shortage, and the situation is catastrophic in the Strip.”
He stressed that “the specter of famine looms over Gaza, and we recorded signs of malnutrition in some children.”
As a result of the war and Israeli restrictions, the residents of Gaza, especially the Gaza and northern governorates, are on the verge of famine, in light of a severe scarcity of food, water, medicine, and fuel supplies, with the displacement of about two million Palestinians from the Strip, which Israel has besieged for 18 years.
With the Israeli army taking control of the Rafah land crossing with Egypt on May 7, despite international warnings of the repercussions of that, the humanitarian situation inside the Gaza Strip worsened, in light of the scarcity of food and medical supplies, which led to the launching of several distress calls from inside the Gaza Strip, calling for the need to open the crossings and bring in Aid. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Health yesterday launched a distress call to provide fuel for electricity generators in hospitals, stressing that their failure means “certain death” for patients and injured, in light of the continuing devastating war on the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the Ministry sent an urgent distress call to the international community and its international and relief institutions to provide electric generators to the Gaza Strip’s hospitals.
The Ministry expected that electricity generators would stop in the remaining hospitals, health centers, and drug warehouses as a result of preventing the entry of spare parts needed for their maintenance.
She said: “The cessation of electrical generators means certain death for the sick and injured and the complete end of the health service in the Gaza Strip.”
It pointed out that it has been relying for 9 months on generators to supply hospitals with the necessary electrical energy around the clock after Israel destroyed the only power plant in the Gaza Strip.
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