SAEDNEWS: The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says Israel is pursuing a “policy of mass starvation” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as it intensifies an all-out blockade and continues its military offensive in the besieged region.
In a statement released on Friday, Hamas said that Israel is using food and humanitarian aid as a “weapon of war” against civilians in Gaza.
“The famine imposed by the occupation on the Gaza Strip constitutes a deliberate crime against humanity, with food being wielded as a weapon of war to subjugate a resilient people,” the statement said.
Hamas called for urgent public and official action to end this egregious crime and provide aid to the hundreds of thousands of starving and besieged individuals.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in the region has raised alarms about the increasing number of starving Palestinians arriving at hospitals, exhibiting signs of severe exhaustion and fatigue.
This warning follows a report from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), indicating that one in ten children screened at the agency's clinics in Gaza is malnourished.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini stated on Tuesday that Israel’s restrictions on aid entering Gaza have resulted in “severe shortages of nutritional supplies.”
Lazzarini further characterized the plight of starving children as “engineered and man-made.”
UNRWA’s communication director, Juliette Touma, emphasized that “medicine, nutritional supplies, hygiene materials, and fuel are all rapidly running out.”
She noted that “our health teams have confirmed that malnutrition rates are rising in Gaza, especially since the tightening of the siege over four months ago on March 2nd.”
“One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries,” she said.
Dozens of Palestinian children have died from hunger in Gaza since October 2023. The healthcare system in Gaza is also on the brink of collapse due to Israel’s targeting of hospitals and health centers.
As complications from severe malnutrition increase, children requiring hospitalization face a deteriorating health system.
Aid agencies say the ongoing closure of border crossings by Israel has obstructed the entry of fuel, medicines, and medical equipment.
These warnings come amidst continued Israeli military aggression targeting starving Palestinians.
In Gaza, the UN human rights office has documented the killing of nearly 800 Palestinians seeking aid from Israeli forces, with most deaths occurring at aid points managed by the controversial Israel-US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The ongoing bombardment has devastated the besieged region, leading to food shortages and the spread of diseases.
Almost the entire population of more than 2 million people in Gaza has been forcibly displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory.
