‘Famine Silently Begins To Unfold' In Gaza, UNRWA Chief Says
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said that is what one of its workers told him on Thursday morning.
This sobering comment comes amidst increasingly severe malnutrition for children and adults throughout the Gaza Strip.
'When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food and care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold,' Mr. Lazzarini said in a tweet.
Bombs are not the only thing that kills
Gaza has faced relentless bombardment for almost three years, but Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said at a briefing on Wednesday that it is not just the bombs which are killing Palestinians.
Starvation is 'another killer'.
Reportedly at least 100 people have died from hunger, and WHO has documented at least 21 cases of children under the age of five dying from malnutrition.
Additionally, Mr. Lazzarini said one in five children in Gaza City is malnourished, a number increasing every day that unhindered humanitarian aid is denied. He said these children urgently need treatment, but supplies remain low.
Between early March and mid-May – 80 consecutive days – no aid was allowed into the Gaza Strip, pushing the population to the brink of famine. While minimal aid has since entered, Tedros emphasised that it is not enough.
'Food deliveries have resumed intermittently, but remain far below what is needed for the survival of the population,' he said.
Safe havens are no longer safe
Tedros reported that between 27 May and 21 July, over 1,000 people in Gaza have been killed while trying to access food.
Many of these have died in or around sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an American-run and Israeli-backed aid distribution organization which the UN has repeatedly said violates well-established principles of international humanitarian law.
'Parents tell us their children cry themselves to sleep from hunger. Food distribution sites have become places of violence,' Tedros said.
In addition to risking their lives when seeking out desperately needed humanitarian assistance, hospitals – which have been systematically targeted, according to UNFPA – are no longer safe havens.
'Hospitals, which are supposed to be safe havens, have regularly been attacked, and many are no longer functioning,' Tedros said.
He recalled that on Monday, a WHO staff residence, a humanitarian site, was attacked, with male personnel being stripped and interrogated, women and children forced to flee on foot in the midst of violence and one WHO staff member detained.
'Despite this, WHO and other UN agencies are staying in Gaza. Our commitment is firm. UN agencies must be protected while operating in conflict zones,' Tedros said.
Frontline workers face hunger
In addition to the Palestinians in Gaza who are 'emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying', aid workers are also feeling the effects of the sustained lack of supplies.
Most UNRWA workers are surviving on a meagre bowl of lentils each day, Mr. Lazzarini said, leading many of them to faint from hunger at work.
'When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing,' he said.
Some parents are too hungry to care for their children, and even those who do reach clinics for treatment are often too tired to follow the advice provided.
Mr. Lazzarini noted that UNRWA alone has 6,000 trucks of desperately needed food and medical supplies in Jordan and Egypt. He called for this and other aid to be immediately let through.
'Families are no longer coping. They are breaking down, unable to survive. Their existence is threatened,' he said. 'Allow humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza.'
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