International alarm bells continue to be raised over the repercussions of the dire humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, especially with the ongoing Israeli closure of the border crossings, preventing aid entry to the besieged Strip.
In this regard, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric warned of the dire situation in the Gaza Strip, saying that without a substantial amount of aid, hunger and desperation will rapidly spread.
“OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) warns that if aid does not begin to enter Gaza in massive quantities, desperation and hunger will spread,” Dujarric told reporters.
Noting that the “closure of the Rafah crossing and limited functionality of Karem Shalom in the south have choked off the flow of life-saving supplies,” he added that the World Food Program (WFP) announced it could not distribute food in the south of Gaza.
Dujarric stressed that hospitals lack necessary fuel and medicine because of the continued closure of the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza.
For her part, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned about the dire situation facing children in the Gaza Strip due to blocked aid routes and intensified Israeli military operations.
“Children in Gaza continue to pay a catastrophic price from blocked aid routes and intensified military operations and fighting in Rafah and beyond, which have paralyzed the only pediatric hospital in north Gaza able to provide nutrition services,” Executive Director Catherine Russell wrote on X.
Stating that the children in Gaza, “who have survived over 7 months of war are at ever-growing risk of dying from malnutrition and dehydration,” Russell stressed that severe acute malnutrition can result in irreversible cognitive and physical damage in small children.
“No child should die from starvation,” she said.
Since October 7, the Israeli occupation army has waged a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, resulting in an enormous humanitarian catastrophe and a major health and environmental disaster.
The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law as it exposes civilians’ lives to extreme danger, which requires immediate international intervention.
The international community must force the Israeli occupation forces to abide by international human rights and humanitarian laws, primarily protecting the rights and lives of civilians, prohibiting their targeting and preserving their safety, and holding the Israeli leaders accountable for committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
