A fifth of the children in Gaza City are malnourished and more than 100 people, most of them youngsters, have reportedly died of hunger there, the UN has said.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), quoting a colleague, said on Thursday that people in Gaza, where the supply and distribution of aid is controlled by Israel, “are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses”.
Most of the youngsters the agency sees are “emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying if they don’t get the treatment they urgently need”.
“This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave,” Mr Lazzirini said.
UNRWA’s frontline health workers are surviving on “one small meal a day, often just lentils, if at all. They are increasingly fainting from hunger while at work”.
“When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing.”
The warning comes as news organisations asked Israel to allow journalists to move freely in and out of Gaza amid fears that reporters there are facing the risk of starvation.
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BBC News, Agence France Press, Associated Press and Reuters said in a statement published on Thursday that they are “desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families”.
They said: “For many months, these independent journalists have been the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering.
“Journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in war zones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them.
“We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists in and out of Gaza. It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there.”
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer told Sky News that food shortages have “been engineered by Hamas”, and that there “is no famine in Gaza”.
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Speaking on Wednesday’s News Hour with Mark Austin, Mr Mencer said aid is “flowing” into the territory but Hamas “loots the trucks [and] deliberately endangers its own people”. The fighters deny stealing food.
More than 4,400 aid trucks have been allowed into Gaza since Israel lifted its blockade in May, roughly 70 trucks a day, which is the lowest rate of the war and far below the 500-600 trucks a day the UN says is needed.
“The problem is not Israel,” he said. “The problem is Hamas.”
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The UK and several other countries have condemned the current aid delivery model, known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is backed by the Israeli and American governments.
It has reportedly resulted in Israeli troops firing on Palestinian civilians in search of food on multiple occasions.
More than 800 people have reportedly been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near distribution centres.
More than 2.1 million people live in Gaza, according to the UN.
