New York [US], February 29: High ranking officials for United Nations agencies have warned the UN Security Council that thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip are starving to death.
"At least 576,000 people in Gaza, one quarter of the population, [are] one step away from famine," Ramesh Rajasingham, director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told the UN's most powerful body on Tuesday.
Rajasingham added that one in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza is "suffering from acute malnutrition" while nearly the entire population of the territory has to rely on "woefully inadequate humanitarian food assistance to survive." In the meantime, the UN is having major issues getting aid supplies into the Gaza Strip where, according to the international organization's figures, 1.7 million out of 2.2 million people are staying in emergency shelters.
"Gaza is seeing the worst level of child malnutrition anywhere in the world," World Food Programme (WFP) Deputy Director Carl Skau said, adding that "If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza."
"Meanwhile, in the south of Gaza, WFP and partners are on the ground, delivering food as it comes to shelters, to makeshift camps, and to shops," Skau continued. "But, we are unable to provide regular or sufficient food to people who badly need it." According to the UN, a possible attack on the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip could have devastating consequences.
Source: Qatar Tribune