The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said that one in every five children is malnourished in Gaza City as cases increase every day.
“Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying if they don’t get the treatment they urgently need. More than 100 people, the vast majority of them children, have reportedly died of hunger,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, said.
He added that parents are too hungry to care for their children, “those who reach UNRWA clinics don’t have the energy, food, or means to follow medical advice.”
This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave.
“UNRWA frontline health workers, are surviving on one small meal a day, often just lentils, if at all. They are increasingly fainting from hunger while at work. When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing,” he stated.
Lazzarini called on humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
“We, at UNRWA, have the equivalent of 6,000 loaded trucks of food and medical supplies in Jordan and Egypt,” he said. (ANI/WAM)
