By Anadolu staff
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The number of children who have died from malnutrition and dehydration at hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip has risen to 10, the Health Ministry in the besieged Palestinian enclave said Thursday.
The latest deaths were of four children at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, a ministry statement said.
On Wednesday, Ashraf Al-Qudra, the ministry spokesperson, said that four children died at the Kamal Adwan Hospital and two others at the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in recent days for the same reasons.
Al-Qudra called on international institutions to “immediately intervene to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe” in the northern Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israeli forces.
“The international community is facing a moral and humanitarian test to stop the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip,” he added.
Hamas said the children’s deaths constitute an “international failure to protect humanity.”
On Feb. 19, UNICEF warned that the sharp rise in malnutrition among children, pregnant women and lactating mothers in the Gaza Strip poses a “serious threat” to their health, especially with the ongoing war.
Israel has put 31 hospitals in Gaza out of service through bombing, destruction and deprivation of medical supplies and fuel, and has partially targeted 152 health facilities, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza.
Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.
At least 30,035 Palestinians have since been killed and 70,457 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio