By Iyad Nabolsi
ISTANBUL (AA) – More than 3,500 Palestinian children are at risk of starving to death due to Israel’s starvation policy in the Gaza Strip, the media office in the besieged enclave warned on Monday.
The Gaza media office said in a statement, "More than 3,500 children under the age of five are at risk of death in Gaza due to Israeli policies of starving children.”
It pointed out "a severe shortage of milk and food, a lack of nutritional supplements, and the denial of vaccinations."
Humanitarian aid has been blocked for the fourth week in a row, "amid deafening international silence," it added.
Earlier on Saturday, a Palestinian child starved to death in central Gaza due to Israel’s ongoing blockade of the Rafah crossing, which has prevented humanitarian aid from entering for almost a month.
“A 13-year-old Palestinian child has died due to starvation in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip amidst the closure of the Rafah border crossing,” the Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported.
So far, malnutrition and dehydration have claimed the lives of 37 people in the Gaza Strip due to strict restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the besieged enclave, it added.
Israel has kept the Rafah crossing closed for 28 days in a row, raising fears of a deteriorating humanitarian situation due to a lack of essential supplies reaching Palestinians, particularly in the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on May 7, after a military action that ignored international appeals, closing it to outgoing wounded people seeking treatment and blocking already scarce humanitarian aid.
The media office emphasized that these children are suffering from “acute malnutrition, affecting their bodies, exposing them to infectious diseases, hindering their growth, and threatening their survival.”
"These children lack access to essential services, and their conditions are worsening due to the deprivation of vaccinations and essential medications,” the statement added.
The office appealed to the international community to fulfil their responsibilities and save the children in Gaza.
It noted that “335,000 children live under extremely difficult conditions due to genocide, displacement, and other effects of Israeli aggression.”
Since 2006, Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza, causing approximately 2 million of its 2.3 million residents to live in catastrophic conditions with severe shortages of food, water, and medicine.
More than 36,400 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and over 82,600 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio