The head of the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday that over 2 million people in Gaza face starvation, citing a “deadly surge” in malnutrition and related diseases.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said acute malnutrition centers in Gaza are full of patients, but lack adequate supplies. He said that rates of acute malnutrition exceed 10% and that among pregnant and breastfeeding women, more than 20% are malnourished, often severely.
“The hunger crisis is being accelerated by the collapse of aid pipelines,” Tedros said, adding that 95% of households in Gaza face severe water shortages.
Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Occupied Palestinian Territories, said there were more than 30,000 children under 5 with acute malnutrition in Gaza so far this year, and that there had been 21 deaths.
He noted that many of the UN health agency’s supplies were destroyed after its main warehouse was destroyed during attacks in Deir al-Balah on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Israel rejected a Gaza starvation warning from rights groups.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused the groups of “echoing Hamas’ propaganda.” It said it has allowed around 4,500 aid trucks to enter Gaza since lifting a complete blockade in May, and that more than 700 are waiting to be picked up and distributed by the United Nations.
That’s an average of around 70 trucks a day, the lowest rate of the war and far below the 500-600 trucks a day the UN says are needed, and which entered during a six-week ceasefire earlier this year.
The UN says it has struggled to deliver aid inside Gaza because of Israeli military restrictions, ongoing fighting, and a breakdown of law and order.
In the letter issued Wednesday, 115 human rights and charity groups said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, “waste away.”
