At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death during the 60 days of Israel’s blockade of Gaza at a time the Israeli army has stepped up bombing and launched an offensive by ground forces, according to aid agencies.
Since March 2nd, no food, potable water, medical supplies and fuel have entered Gaza while hundreds of aid trucks have parked along the roadside waiting to enter the strip. The line of lorries stretches from the Gaza-Egypt border 45km to El-Arish in Egypt’s Sinai.
Gaza’s Hamas government’s media office announced at the weekend that most of the victims were children but included the elderly and ailing. Al-Jazeera identified the most recent victim as Janan Saleh al-Sakafi, a baby girl who died of malnutrition and dehydration in hospital in Gaza city.
UN children’s agency Unicef’s director Catherine Russell said more than 9,000 children have been admitted to hospital for treatment for acute malnutrition this year. “Hundreds more children in desperate need of treatment are not able to access it due to the insecurity and displacement,” she said.
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“With each passing day of the blockade, they face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death – nothing can justify this,” Ms Russell said.
Three-quarters of households do not have enough water to drink or wash hands, shower, clean and cook, she said.
[ In pictures: Many in Gaza face malnutrition as blockade enters third monthOpens in new window ]
Vaccines were quickly running out and diseases were spreading, she said – especially acute watery diarrhoea, amounting to 25 per cent of disease recorded in Gaza.
“Most of these cases are among children under five, for whom it is life threatening,” she said.
Ms Russell reiterated Unicef’s call for the release of Israeli hostages; an end to the blockade and the 18-month war which, she said, “are pushing Gaza’s children to the brink”.
Israel has said it would continue the blockade until it could guarantee aid reaches Palestinian civilians and is not seized by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The UN and other aid agency officials have denied aid has been misdirected by the militants.
Humanitarian aid officials told the Associated Press Israel’s plans “to use its army to distribute supplies are untenable”. This could serve Israel’s military and political objectives and restrict who can supply and receive aid, they said.
Israel has proposed that 60 aid trucks – a tenth of the number required – would enter Gaza via a sole crossing in the south.
Aid officials cited by the Washington Post said the amount was insufficient.
“It’s a joke,” the head of one international aid agencies said. “Sixty trucks a day are just a tactic by Israel to ease international pressure, not a real effort to address the humanitarian crisis.”
The Israeli military or US private security contractors would transport the aid to five distribution hubs located south of the Netzarim Corridor which bisects Gaza just south of Gaza city.
This would deny Palestinians living in the north access to aid and compel them to move to Israel-designated, overcrowded “safe areas” in the south. Each hub would provide 500-600 households with a 20kg parcel of food either weekly or every two weeks.
Twenty aid groups have argued that Palestinians could be permanently displaced and made to live under “de facto internment conditions” while large numbers of recipients would have to secure supplies at locations near Israeli troops, risking a repeat of earlier clashes.
Aid groups have counter-proposed 100 distribution sites to serve Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians.
“Humanitarian aid is more complex than food rations in a box that you pick up once a month,” Norwegian Refugee Council aid worker Gavin Kelleher told the AP.
Aid agencies argue Israel has not planned for water deliveries, healthcare and infrastructure repair.
The Israeli government press office did not reply to The Irish Times request for comment on Gaza’s dire situation.
