The UN rapporteurs issued a joint statement on the famine caused by Israel’s attacks on Gaza. A 6-month-old baby died in the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah and a 9-month-old baby died in an area where Palestinian families live in tents in Khan Younis due to malnutrition and lack of health services. These deaths show the severity of the famine that has spread from northern to southern Gaza.
The rapporteurs stressed the consequences of Israel’s deliberate policy of starving Palestinians, saying that the situation in Gaza had reached genocidal proportions. They called on the international community to ensure aid reaches Gaza, to lift the Israeli blockade and to establish a ceasefire, noting that 34 children had recently died from malnutrition in Gaza.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced that 9 out of every 10 children in Gaza suffer from serious food shortages and that malnutrition increases the risk of death. UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths stated that more than 1 million people living in Gaza were at risk of death and starvation in mid-July.
