LONDON, JERUSALEM and GAZA — In a joint statement, 115 organizations described the dire food shortage in Gaza as “mass starvation,” as the “Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza.”
The organizations warned that some aid workers are now joining food lines in Gaza, saying they are “risking being shot just to feed their families.” Repeated deadly shootings around aid distribution centers have killed hundreds, according to the United Nations.
The World Health Organization said it is “determined to remain in the Gaza Strip” and called for the protection of WHO and U.N. agency personnel.
World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press conference Wednesday, “90% of Gaza’s population face difficulty accessing water.”
Ten Palestinians died due to famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, according to a statement from the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health on Wednesday. More than 70 children have died from malnutrition in Gaza since the beginning of the year, according to the WHO.
While a total number of 111 people died due to hunger since the beginning of the war, 25 of them, including at least four children, have died just in the past 48 hours, the ministry said. Many supplies are now totally depleted, according to aid organizations.
The joint statement accused the Israeli government of implementing “restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege [that] have created chaos, starvation, and death.”
Citing reports from doctors, the statement warned of “record rates of acute malnutrition,” saying they are being seen particularly among children and older people. An aid worker providing psychosocial support is quoted in part saying: “Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least heaven has food.”
Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and Oxfam International were among the international aid groups that signed the statement.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer pushed back, saying “there is no famine” in Gaza, in an online briefing Wednesday.
Mencer blamed Hamas and called the food crisis in Gaza “a man-made shortage engineered by Hamas.”
“Suffering exists because Hamas has made it so,” Mencer added.
The IDF has previously said the incidents at aid sites were under review, but has also said it fired “warning shots” toward people who were allegedly “advancing while posing a threat to the troops.”
Mencer said 2 million meals were distributed to Gazans on Monday and that 87 million meals have been distributed since the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution system began in late May. The U.N. and other aid organizations have refused to collaborate with the group, citing concerns about its transparency and political impartiality.
An Israeli spokesman said Hamas had “stepped-up efforts to prevent” the distribution of food in Gaza and accused Hamas of “deliberately” placing Gazans “at risk of hunger” by disrupting distribution sites.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation pushed back on the criticism in a statement to ABC News.
“While Oxfam, MSF and these other groups hold press conferences and send out threatening letters, GHF is on the ground feeding people,” a GHF spokesperson said. “We’ve delivered more than 86 million meals in less than two months. Not talking points, not headlines, but food reaching Palestinian families every single day. Meanwhile, many of these organizations, and the UN who they front for, are standing by helplessly as their aid is looted.”
“We’ve offered to help them deliver it safely. They’ve refused. The humanitarian community must return to its core mission — feeding people — not protecting outdated systems or avoiding the discomfort of change. Bureaucracy and ego should never stand in the way of getting aid to those who need it most. We’re here. We’re ready. Let’s feed people,” the spokesperson said.
More than 1,000 people have been killed by Israeli gunfire since GHF opened its aid distribution sites on May 27 in Gaza.
“This is over 1000 plus since the 27th of May when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started distributing food and people have been shot both while trying to collect food in these distribution centers where Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distributes, but also when there have been UN convoys and other aid convoys getting into Gaza and people have tried to jump on those trucks and have been shot and killed,” Ajith Sunghay, from the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.
ABC News: Top Stories
Read the full article .
