UN warns 14,000 Gaza babies could die in 48 hours if siege continues
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher has warned that as many as 14,000 babies could lose their lives in Gaza within 48 hours if the siege of the war-torn territory continues.
After the Israeli regime allowed four trucks of aid to enter Gaza on Monday, Fletcher said this dismal amount is a “drop in the ocean.”
“There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them … I want to save as many of these 14,000 babies as we can in the next 48 hours,” he said.
He said the humanitarian aid trucks, which contain baby food and nutrition, are technically in Gaza but have not reached civilians because the Israeli regime does not allow it.
“This is not food that Hamas is going to steal … We run the risk of looting. We run the risk of being hit as part of the Israeli military offensive. We run all sorts of risks trying to get that baby food through to those mothers who cannot feed their children right now because they are malnourished,” he emphasized.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has escalated dramatically since March 18 because the Israeli regime has severely restricted the entry of food, fuel, medicine, and water into the territory.
According to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Gaza suffers from phase 5 famine, and nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition.
IPC defines phase 5 famine as when at least one in five households experience an extreme lack of food and face starvation, resulting in destitution, extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition, and death.
International pressure on the Israeli regime to de-escalate the intensity of the blockade has increased in recent weeks.
On Monday, Canada, France, and the UK said that unless the Israeli regime lets humanitarian aid enter Gaza and halts its genocidal attacks on the enclave, they will take “concrete actions” against the regime.
Furthermore, 22 countries have signed a joint statement and demanded that the regime allow the resumption of impartial humanitarian operations in the region.
As a result, the regime’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been forced to ease the catastrophic blockade. He has said that the regime must prevent a “starvation crisis” in Gaza for “diplomatic reasons.”
Despite these facts, the Israeli regime has increased the number of its air strikes across Gaza, with at least 60 people, mostly children and women, killed on Monday.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, the Israeli regime has killed at least 300 Palestinians over the past three days.
The UN has also issued a warning that the people of Gaza have been losing their lives to preventable diseases due to the extreme scarcity of medicine and the regime’s attacks on hospitals.
