Israel continues to obstruct supplies as the number of hunger fatalities in Gaza rises.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said that 20 people have perished in Gaza from starvation and dehydration. Israeli forces are still preventing the people in the besieged zone from receiving much needed supplies.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture stated that the famine is deepening and will claim thousands of lives if the aggression is not halted and humanitarian and medical aid is not immediately brought in. It also accused Israel of deliberately starving thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza and urged the international community and the UN to end the war and prevent a health catastrophe.
Calls from the international community to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza continue to grow louder and more urgent. However, Israel has refused to heed these calls. The UN World Food Programme reported on Wednesday that Israeli authorities turned back a 14 trucks convoy carrying food aid to northern Gaza. Following a three hours delay at the checkpoint the trucks were barred.
The World Food Programme (WFP) stated that when the trucks were being diverted, famished Palestinians halted them and managed to seize roughly 200 tonnse of supplies. The WFP was then compelled to use the Jordanian air force to airdrop the remaining aid to about 20,000 people in Northern Gaza. As a result, The World Food Programme also said it has been “largely unsuccessful” in starting to send aid to the northern part of Gaza.
In a statement, WFP deputy director Carl Skau stated that airdrops are a last resort and will not avert famine. Enough food must be delivered to half a million people who are in extreme need so we need entrance ways into northern Gaza. Israel has been urged by the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza through all ports of entry and border crossings.
Furthermore, despite the US and Israel reaching an agreement on a new system for supplying aid to Gaza sources on Wednesday stated that a sizable cargo of flour from the US had been delayed for the past 46 days. An official from the US administration stated that Israel has been preventing the aid which could feed 1.5 million Palestinians for five months without providing any justification.
The aid in question was previously halted in February by Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who opposed its distribution by UNRWA characterizing them as part of Hamas “war machine.” The World Food Programme was later agreed to administer the supplies but the blockade still stands. Furthermore, it has been reported that Israel has also obstructed a humanitarian shipment from the United Kingdom that contained approximately 1,400 water filters. At least 30,717 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the start of the Israeli war and at least 72,156 more have been injured.
