Palestinian child dies of malnutrition amid Israeli siege on Gaza

By Hosni Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – A Palestinian child died on Monday of severe malnutrition caused by Israel’s crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, according to a local medical source.

Ali Anas al-Tater, 6, breathed his last at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City as a result of acute malnutrition exacerbated by the prolonged Israeli siege and the ensuing food crisis, the source told Anadolu.

Earlier this month, Hatem al-Hour, head of the neonatal department at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, warned that the number of Palestinians suffering from malnutrition was beyond the capacity of hospitals amid the ongoing Israeli war.

On July 11, the United Nations World Food Program warned that the collapse of the health care system and lack of sustainable food sources put Gaza’s children at risk.

Israel has imposed a crippling siege on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, leaving the territory’s 2.3 million population on the verge of starvation.

According to Gaza’s government media office, humanitarian aid has not reached Gaza City and northern areas for over two months.

In June, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor issued a warning about an unprecedented return to famine conditions in the region.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 39,360 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,900 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio