290,000 Palestinian children 'on brink of death' in Gaza

Nearly 290,000 Palestinian children are “on the brink of death” in Gaza as Israel continues to use starvation as a weapon of war, Palestinian officials say. 

Gaza’s Government Media Office said in a statement on Sunday that more than 70,000 children are being hospitalized due to severe malnutrition, and the international community is maintaining a “shameful silence” on these crimes. 

“Under this systematic blockade, it said, “more than 3,500 children under the age of five face imminent death by starvation, while approximately 290,000 children are on the brink of death.”

According to the statement, the Israeli regime continues to prevent the entry of baby formula, nutritional supplements, and all forms of humanitarian aid into the coastal enclave.

“At a time when 1.1 million children daily lack the minimum nutritional requirements for survival, this crime is being perpetrated by the ‘Israeli’ occupation using starvation as a weapon, amid shameful international silence.”

World ‘complicit’ in starvation of Gaza children

Advocacy group Oxfam has warned that the humanitarian situation is expected to “deteriorate” in Gaza.

Mahmoud Alsaqqa, Oxfam’s food security and livelihood lead in Gaza, said, “We have repeatedly sounded the alarm and warned that this stage will lead to catastrophic and potentially irreversible consequences, especially for the vulnerable groups, the children, the elderly people and the women.”

He said, “The whole world, unfortunately, is contributing to or participating in starving the children in the Gaza Strip.”

“Without taking any action, they are all, unfortunately, complicit,” Alsaqqa stated. 

Alsaqqa said the international community has “a choice: either to continue simply watching the horror, the pictures and the images coming from Gaza or to take action.”

For two months now, Israel has blocked the entry of medical, fuel and food supplies into Gaza. Aid organizations have repeatedly warned that the humanitarian response in Gaza was on the verge of “total collapse.”