A SIX-YEAR-OLD Palestinian boy and a 30-year-old man have died from malnutrition resulting from Israeli-induced starvation of the besieged enclave, the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza has said, as hunger-related deaths climb and deadly Israeli bombardment continues across the territory.
The deaths of Wissam Abu Mohsen and young Jamal Fadi al-Najjar on Tuesday came shortly after Gaza’s Health Ministry said five more people had died of famine within 24 hours, bringing the total number of starvation-related fatalities since the start of Israel’s war to 227, including more than 100 children.
In the relentless and punishing daily desperation to find food under Israeli fire, two Palestinians described horrific scenes in northern Gaza.
Speaking to Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili, Sayyid, a displaced Palestinian man, explained what had happened near the Zikim crossing.
“People were dying in front of us, bullets flying between our legs, and we couldn’t control anything,” he said.
“We go there just to get a bite to eat, but we can barely make it. We’re exhausted; we’re dying. A piece of bread now costs blood.”
Another man, Mohammed Abu Nahl, described how he was surrounded by the wounded and the dead, while he and others were crawling on their stomachs.
“I come here just to feed my children. I have no money to buy food, and if there were food and water available, I wouldn’t come here,” he told Al Jazeera.
“What should I do? Steal? Loot? There’s no currency to buy with. We call on all countries: stand with us, stop the war, and end our suffering.”
As the number of Israeli-imposed hunger-related deaths continues to rise, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday urged Israel to allow it to stock medical supplies in Gaza before the Israeli military proceeds with its plan to seize Gaza City, a move that has drawn international condemnation.
“We want to stock up, and we all hear about ‘more humanitarian supplies are allowed in’, well it’s not happening yet, or it’s happening at a way too low a pace,” said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative in the Palestinian territories.
Separately, Britain, Canada, Australia, Japan and 23 of their European allies said the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had reached “unimaginable levels”.
“Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,” the foreign ministers of the countries said in a joint statement published by Britain.
“We call on the government of Israel to provide authorisation for all international NGO aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating.”