GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center ) Four Palestinian citizens, including two children, died of starvation and malnutrition in the Gaza Strip within the past 24 hours, according to a statement released by Gaza’s health ministry on Thursday morning.
The new victims have raised the total number of hunger-related deaths in the famished coastal territory to 317 people, including 121 children, the health ministry said.
Since March 2, the Israeli occupation army has been closing all the border crossings with Gaza, preventing the flow of humanitarian aid and vital needs. Although limited quantities of aid have recently been allowed in, they remain insufficient to meet the minimum basic needs of the population.
Addressing the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Save the Children International CEO Inger Ashing accused Israel of pursing a deliberate starvation policy in the Gaza Strip.
Below is Ashing’s statement during the UNSC meeting.
“The Gaza famine is here. An engineered famine. A predicted famine. A manmade famine. As we speak, children in Gaza are systematically being starved to death. This is a deliberate policy. This is starvation as a method of war in its starkest terms.”
“Save the Children’s clinics in Gaza are overwhelmed by need; every bench packed with malnourished children and their mothers. Yet our clinics are almost silent now. Children do not have the strength to speak or even cry out in agony.”
“They lie there emaciated, quite literally wasting away. Their tiny bodies overcome by hunger and disease. The medical and specialized nutrition supplies they need all but used up. Without these, malnourished children will die.”
“A few kilometers away stand ready a sea of supplies — thousands upon thousands of truckloads of lifesaving items. All blocked. The government of Israel could end this famine tonight if it chose to end its deliberate obstruction and let humanitarians do their job. Instead, there are reports of escalations in Israeli military activity in Gaza City, more attacks on hospitals, more killing.”
“At our Child Friendly Spaces, children draw what we call ‘wishing clouds’ so that they can imagine a better future. In Gaza, children used to wish for school, or peace, or to see their friends again. Once the total siege began in March, children would increasingly tell us they wish for food, for bread. These past few weeks, more and more children have shared that they wish to be dead.”
“Children are being killed in Gaza – by bombs, bullets, and now starvation – an entire generation at risk of being wiped out.”
“Every decision maker in every capital in the world – everyone in this room – has a legal and moral responsibility to act to stop these atrocities.”
“Famine means there are no more breaking points and no more alarm bells. It is the worst-case scenario.”
“We told you this was coming, loudly and clearly. It has been constructed by design for two years.”
