13 children in Gaza die of hunger; Hamas slams it as 'disgrace'
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The Islamic Resistance calls on the UN and international relief organizations to urgently intervene to save children and civilians, especially in Gaza City and the Strip's northern regions.
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Hungry Palestinian children waiting to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen amid shortages of food supplies due to the Israeli ongoing siege on Gaza in February 2024 (AFP)
The martyrdom of at least 13 children in Gaza City and northern provinces of the Strip due to malnutrition and starvation is a declaration of failure for the international community and the United Nations, the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas stated on Friday.
The tragic death of the children "is a stain on humanity and a serious precedent in our modern era," the movement said.
Hamas reiterated its call to the UN and international relief organizations to urgently intervene to save children and civilians, especially in Gaza City and the Strip's northern regions, calling on these institutions not to "succumb to the dictates of the criminal Zionist occupation, which is committing genocide and ethnic cleansing against our Palestinian people."
The spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra, confirmed earlier that two children died at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City due to dehydration and malnutrition.
He emphasized that international organizations are unable to provide any protection to the health system in the besieged and destroyed Strip, adding that 30 out of 35 hospitals in Gaza are now out of service as the Israeli war continues.
Al-Qudra said that the Israeli occupation is committing genocide in northern Gaza by targeting and starving 700,000 people, warning that thousands of children, pregnant women, sick people, and elderly citizens in northern Gaza are at risk of death due to dehydration and malnutrition.
Read more: A quarter of Gaza one step away from famine: UNOCHA
Deadly combination
Palestinian medical sources reported on Thursday the martyrdom of 7 children at Kamal Adwan Hospital due to malnutrition after the health facility went out of service.
Twenty weeks into the Israeli brutal war on Gaza, UN agencies warned that food and safe water had become "incredibly scarce" in the Palestinian territory, adding that virtually all young children had infectious illnesses.
Read more: Israeli aggression on Gaza death toll exceeds 30,000: Health Ministry
The United Nations stated earlier this week that an alarming lack of food, surging malnutrition, and the rampant spread of disease could spark an explosion in child deaths in Gaza.
"Hungry, weakened, and deeply traumatized children are more likely to get sick, and children who are sick, especially with diarrhea, cannot absorb nutrients well," World Health Organization emergencies director Mike Ryan said in a statement.
"Hunger and disease are a deadly combination," he added.
