Gaza health ministry says at least 16 children died of malnutrition (document)
Geneva, Switzerland:
An aid mission to two hospitals in northern Gaza found horrific scenes of children dying of starvation amid severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency’s weekend visits to Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals “were the first since early October 2023, despite our efforts to gain more frequent access to northern Gaza”.
He said on
He said Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only pediatric hospital in northern Gaza, was overwhelmed with patients.
“Ten children died due to food shortages,” Tedros said.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 16 children have died from malnutrition in aid-starved northern Gaza.
The United Nations warned last week that famine in Gaza was “almost inevitable” as war has raged in the Palestinian territories since Hamas agents launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7.
That attack killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to official AFP statistics.
According to Israel, Hamas operatives have also kidnapped 250 hostages, of whom 130 are still being held and 31 are presumed dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in the Palestinian territories has killed more than 30,500 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
In addition to the severe lack of food in two northern hospitals, Tedros also warned on X that “the lack of electricity poses a serious threat to patient care, especially in critical areas such as intensive care units and neonatal wards.”
He said that during the weekend mission, the UN health agency delivered 9,500 liters of fuel to each hospital as well as some basic medical supplies.
“This is only a small portion of the emergency life-saving needs.”
The WHO director-general once again called on Israel to “ensure that humanitarian assistance can be delivered safely and regularly.”
“Civilians, especially children and medical staff need immediate expanded help,” he said, but stressed that “the key medicine all these patients need is peace. A ceasefire.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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