‘On brink of death’: WHO warns of Gaza children starvation
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The WHO is aggressively establishing emergency malnutrition stabilization facilities to assist Gaza's most vulnerable, but the efforts are being stifled due to Israeli barriers and restrictions.
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Palestinian children receive cooked food rations in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 5, 2024. (AFP)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a stark warning that children in Gaza are on the verge of death due to acute starvation.
WHO representative Margaret Harris shared troubling reports of doctors observing starvation in children to the point of seeing newborn babies "simply dying because they [are] too low birth weight."
Read more: Famine in Gaza causing women to give birth to stillborn babies
Speaking to media in Geneva, Harris stressed the critical need for nutritional intervention to preserve these young lives.
Harris emphasized the dangers of starvation during pregnancy, which she blames completely on the effects of the raging bombardment from "Israel", and called the malnutrition "entirely a consequence of human actions."
The WHO is aggressively establishing emergency malnutrition stabilization facilities to assist Gaza's most vulnerable, but the efforts are being stifled due to intentional Israeli barriers and restrictions.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund, "Israel's" genocidal attack on Gaza has murdered more than 13,000 children.
Harris urged that it was crucial for a ceasefire to "facilitate aid delivery."
The World Bank also issued a harsh warning as well, reiterating that more than half of Gaza's population faces "the imminent threat of famine," and pleaded for coordinated action to avert the massive loss of Palestinian lives.
“We join the international community in calling for immediate, free, and unimpeded access of medical supplies, food and life-essential services through all available means at speed and scale to the people of Gaza.”
Guterres calls for immediate entry of aid to Gaza, says famine is near
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has urgently called for the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
In a convened session for the UN Security Council at the New York headquarters, Guterres called on "Israel" to "guarantee the complete and unconditioned arrival of humanitarian goods in all areas of the Gaza Strip."
Regarding the latest report on the absence of food security in Gaza, Guterres said it signifies an "indictment of the horrific conditions the people of Gaza are experiencing on the ground". He also noted that food insecurity experts confirmed that famine will soon hit north Gaza.
This report, Guterres said, is primary evidence that an immediate ceasefire is needed, for humanitarian reasons.
He further noted that more than half of the Palestinians in the Strip, almost 1.1 million people, have run out of their humanitarian aid rations and are currently facing severe hunger.
"It is a purely manmade catastrophe, and the report indicates that we could stop it if we move now, to prevent the unimaginable from occurring," Guterres concluded.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, previously echoed Guterres' words, describing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as "manmade", and accused "Israel" of using starvation and hunger as a "war arm".
'Israel' denies UNRWA Chief's entry into Rafah amid disastrous state
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini reiterated, once again, that the state of Gazan grounds is grievous.
In a joint press conference with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, Lazzarini affirmed that UNRWA continues to coordinate and work alongside the Palestinian side, the World Food Programme, and other UN organizations and agencies, as "Israel" drags its genocide for the 166th day.
Lazzarini also revealed that the Israeli occupation government prevented his visit to Rafah in southern Gaza, "Israel's" invasion target, where the largest number of refugees and displaced civilians reside.
On the day new data is out on famine in #GAZA, the Israeli Authorities deny my entry to Gaza.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) March 18, 2024
-Famine is imminent in the northern Gaza Strip, expected to arrive between now and May.
- Two million people= the entire population of Gaza is facing crisis levels of food insecurity…
