Palestinian Red Crescent says thousands of Gazans face risk of famine

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - The Palestinian Red Crescent Society on Wednesday warned that thousands of people in the Gaza Strip are facing the risk of famine amid ongoing Israeli devastating onslaught.

In a statement cited by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Red Crescent called for the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip's northern areas, stressing that aid airdropping operations didn't meet the required needs in decreasing the percentage of hunger.

It also called for opening the crossings with Gaza to allow the entry of humanitarian aid into all areas of Gaza, confirming that the Israeli army continues to target relief workers in a deliberate manner.

On Tuesday, a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) revealed that 96% of people in Gaza face "extreme levels of hunger," while nearly half a million people are in catastrophic conditions.

Last week, the local authorities in Gaza also raised the alarm over 3,500 children across the Gaza Strip being at risk of hunger amid Israel’s ongoing siege and the closure of aid crossings.

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

More than 37,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 86,100 others injured, according to local health authorities.

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

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar