GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza warned of a looming famine threatening again Gaza and North Gaza governorates, while food security crisis is worsening in central and southern governorates, especially with the displacement of tens of thousands of residents from the city of Rafah following the Israeli ground invasion of the city.
The GMO confirmed in a statement, received by Sanad News Agency on Wednesday evening, that Israeli occupation army has been tightening the siege on the entire Gaza Strip for more than a month by taking over and closing the Rafah crossing, preventing the entry of aid convoys through both of Rafah and Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossings.
It explained that only a total of 257 aid trucks entered the Gaza and North Gaza governorates last week from the west of Beit Lahia, including 148 trucks loaded with flour for bakeries and citizens, and 26 trucks of medicines and medical consumables.
The GMO statement affirmed that the relief efforts remain below the minimum limit of the needs of the people amid the humanitarian catastrophe that is ravaging the Gaza Strip.
It stressed the urgent need for the withdrawal of Israeli army from Rafah, intensifying relief efforts, allowing the entry of basic food commodities and supplies to reduce the food security crisis and prevent famine threatening the northern Gaza Strip.
Over the past months, Israeli restrictions led to famine in light of the suffocating blockade imposed on the access to food, water, medicine, and fuel supplies, resulting in the martyrdom of a number of children and the elderly.
In the same context, relief officials and health experts warned on Friday in a press statement to The New York Times of “famine in the Gaza Strip, unless Israel lifts restrictions on aid, the fighting stops, and vital services return.”
The officials added, “We expect famine in Gaza unless the fighting stops and vital services, such as health care and clean water, which must be in place to stave off malnutrition, are restored.”
They explained that “hunger is worsening in Gaza as the Israeli attack continues on Rafah,” the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip.
“We have never seen anything like this (the situation in the Gaza Strip) anywhere in the world,” Janti Soeripto, president and CEO of Save the Children USA said, according to the New York Times.
