Six children have died from dehydration and malnutrition in hospitals in northern Gaza, the Health Ministry in the besieged Palestinian territory said, as the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave worsens.
Two children died at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the ministry said Wednesday. Four children were previously reported to have died at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, while seven others remained in critical condition.
“We call on international agencies to intervene immediately to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in northern Gaza,” Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement, as Israel's attacks on Gaza continue.
“The international community faces a moral and humanitarian test to stop the genocide in Gaza.”
Kamal Adwan Hospital director Ahmed al-Kahlout said the hospital had been put out of service due to a lack of fuel to run its generators. On Tuesday, Al-Awda hospital in Jabalia was also out of service for the same reason.
In a video posted on Instagram and verified by Al Jazeera's Sanad verification unit, journalist Ebrahem Musalam shows a baby in a bed inside the pediatric department of Kamal Adwan Hospital, as electricity goes in and out.
Musalam said children in the department suffer from malnutrition and lack of infant formula, and necessary devices have stopped working due to constant power outages due to fuel shortages.
The Palestinian group Hamas said Wednesday that closing Kamal Adwan Hospital would exacerbate the health and humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza, which is already on the brink of famine as Israel continues to block or disrupt aid missions there.
'Kill and starve'
On Wednesday, Israel said a convoy of 31 trucks carrying food had entered northern Gaza. The Israeli military office that oversees Palestinian civil affairs, the Coordination of Government Activity in the Territories (COGAT), also said nearly 20 other trucks entered the north on Monday and Tuesday.
These were the first major aid deliveries in a month to the devastated and isolated area, where the United Nations has warned of worsening famine.
Israel has delayed aid entering Gaza for weeks, and Israeli protesters participated in demonstrations calling for aid not to be allowed into the territory even as hunger and disease spread.
UN officials say Israel's months-long war, which has killed nearly 30,000 people in Gaza, has also pushed a quarter of the population of 2.3 million to the brink of famine.
Project Hope, a humanitarian group that operates a clinic in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, has said that 21 percent of the pregnant women and 11 percent of children under five it has treated in the last three weeks they suffer from malnutrition. .
“People have reported eating nothing but white bread, as fruits, vegetables and other nutrient-dense foods are almost impossible to find or too expensive,” Project Hope said.
Qatar and France reaffirm in a joint statement the depth and breadth of their strategic partnership
đź”—For more information: https://t.co/7sF2yFaDpl#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/cLsoIKdFdy
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) February 28, 2024
In a joint statement on Wednesday, Qatar and France underlined their opposition to an Israeli military offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza, and underlined their “rejection of the killings and hunger suffered by the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
They called for the opening of all crossings into Gaza, including the north, “to allow humanitarian actors to resume their activities and, in particular, the delivery of food, and pledged a joint effort of $200 million in support of the Palestinian population.” ”.
Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, also said Israel must allow aid trucks into Gaza to address the dire humanitarian crisis.
“Hundreds of aid trucks wait in line to cross into Gaza at Rafah and Kerem Shalom. [Karem Abu Salem] crossings to a hungry civilian population,” Egeland said in a social media post, with a video showing dozens of aid trucks lined up.
“There has not been a single day in which we have managed to cross the necessary 500 trucks. “The system is broken and Israel could fix it for the sake of the innocent.”
Hundreds of aid trucks wait in line to cross into Gaza at the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings towards a starving civilian population. There has not been a single day in which we have managed to cross the 500 trucks needed. The system is broken and Israel could fix it for the sake of the innocent pic.twitter.com/dMb9gTbchJ
– Jan Egeland (@NRC_Egeland) February 28, 2024
Meanwhile, the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has said that medical workers are struggling to care for hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Gaza who are living in dire conditions with nowhere to go. where to go.
“Health care has been attacked and is collapsing. The entire system is collapsing. We are working from tents trying to do what we can. We care for the wounded. With the displacements, people's wounds have become infected. And I'm not even talking about the mental wounds. People are desperate. They no longer know what to do,” says Meinie Nicolai of MSF.
