Gaza city: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned of the growing risk of famine in Gaza City, with the danger likely to spread to central part of the Strip within weeks if urgent action is not taken. The organization stressed that the situation in Gaza has become ‘catastrophic,’ as families are increasingly unable to provide food for their children.
According to Qatar News Agency, UNICEF spokesperson, Tess Ingram, said in a statement from Gaza that the threat of famine in Gaza City is real, particularly in eastern and northern areas, where residents continue to live under constant threat of intensified Israeli bombardment.
Ingram noted that many residents of Gaza City are considering moving south, even though they know conditions there are similar-marked by acute shortages of food and clean water and ongoing bombardments-stressing that ‘there is no safe place in Gaza.’
She added that health workers, humanitarian staff, and journalists have been warning of famine in Gaza for months, ‘but nothing has changed.’ She also stated that clinics supported by UNICEF are overwhelmed with families waiting for their children to be examined due to widespread malnutrition.
Earlier on Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the total number of deaths caused by Israel’s systematic starvation of Gaza’s population has risen to 387, including 138 children.
Israeli occupation continued its war of extermination against the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, showing no regard for international calls to halt the killing and to open crossings for the entry of humanitarian aid, amid an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.