GAZA, (PIC) Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO) has accused Israel of deliberately starving people in Gaza as it continues to prevent the entry of vital food items into the enclave.
GMO’s statement on Telegram said that Israel continues to implement “a systematic policy of engineered starvation and slow killing against more than 2.4 million people in Gaza, including more than 1.2 million Palestinian children.”
It stressed that the biggest victims of the crime are children and sick people.
“More than 40,000 infants (under one year old) are suffering severe malnutrition, and their lives are threatened by gradual death,” the statement said, adding that more than 100,000 children and patients are also in the same situation.
It underlined that Israel, despite international condemnation, continues to prevent the entry into the enclave of baby formula, nutritional supplements, and hundreds of other essential items, including frozen meat, fish, cheese, dairy products, and frozen fruits and vegetables.
In a related context, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Gaza has reported that the number of Palestinians wounded by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip has tripled daily since the Israeli-US Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started its operations at aid distribution centers.
“Now we have a new horror: the so-called ‘food distribution points’ supported by Israel through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Places that are supposed to support starving Palestinians have become killing fields. The attacks at these sites are increasing the daily influx of wounded people, as Israeli forces open fire on civilians gathering for food,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Mughaiseb, MSF deputy medical coordinator, said recently as he spoke about the disastrous healthcare situation on the ground and called, once again, for a ceasefire.
“Before October 7, 2023, Gaza’s health system was already fragile. Today, it is barely surviving, overwhelmed by massive patient numbers, collapsing supply chains, deepening hunger, and the targeting of civilians,” Dr. Abu Mughaiseb explained.
“Preventable deaths and permanent disabilities are our daily reality. At the same time, according to the WHO, at least 14,500 people are in desperate need of medical evacuation for specialized medical care that they cannot receive in Gaza, as there are no services available. Instead of facilitating these evacuations, the Israeli authorities arbitrarily block or delay them,” the MSF official added.
“Gaza’s health care system is a broken shell, barely functioning, crushed by the deliberate destruction of every aspect of life here, including the very institutions meant to save lives,” he said.
